Tender is the Night
by DarkSidheChild
Summary: AU. HieiBotan. To catch a thief you must get inside his defenses. But what happens when you get too entangled in what you find? Botan, working for Interpol, is about to discover the answer.
1. Tender are the Undercover

AN: Mainly for Ciara, though I am posting a cleaner version here for my younger cousins and I have heard of the strictness of fanfiction on these matters. Only limish material will go on this site. Lemons will appear on livejournal under the name DarkSidheChild and adultfanfiction under the name Dark Sidhe. (If you are my younger cousins and go to that site, Ciara and I will personally beat you with sticks! ;) Don't go, please.) My attempts at a full romance story with the couple she requested.

Disclaimer: Standard

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**Tender is the Night**

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_Between the darkness on the street  
__And the houses filling up with light  
__Between the stillness in my heart  
__And the roar of the approaching night_

_Somebody's calling after somebody  
__Somebody turns the corner out of sight  
__Looking for somebody  
__Somewhere in the night_

-

A crash broke through the semi-deserted streets, causing the girl who walked there to jump. Her heart was pounding furiously as her head turned, following the sound like a startled deer to the source. Golden eyes stared back at her, before turning away to more interesting sights.

Only a cat. It was only a cat rooting through the trash, nothing to be worried about. Not when what awaited her was a demon.

Botan shivered as she continued on her way, pulling the jacket in tighter around her. There was no protection this time, no backup, no gun, no badge. Anything that could give away the reality of what she was had been striped of her before she had boarded the plane, left behind in moldy old England, with the rain and the fog. It had no place being in windy, brisk spring-time Japan. Interpol was a bitch when it wanted to be. Why she had been chosen for this job in the first place-?!

But she knew why she was the perfect candidate. Her blue hair did nothing to detract from her attractiveness as an undercover operative, it wouldn't really matter as much anyway, and if push came to shove, she could always dye it again. No, it was the fact that she was a native of Japan. Her parents had come from this productive island country in the seventies, when it was still facing depression, to settle in another island country, the British Isles, London, to be exact. She could move freely in the Asian countries, she knew the language fluently, if with a small accent, and she was loyal to England first and foremost, followed shortly by Interpol itself. One of their youngest yet brightest members, or at least that's what they had told her before sending her off on this trip.

Another shiver ran through the girl as she recalled her commander's final statement, given with warning eyes. "It doesn't detract any that you're a woman as well." And the eyes had traced her figure with a silent message. Watch yourself. Reports had come in that he was not a womanizer, he traditionally avoided contact with people, though he was slightly more courteous with women, and that no one had gotten close enough to gauge if his preferences even lay that way. Anyway, they were only rumors, right?

The problem was, there was so little information on him that rumors were clung to. That he showed any bias at all towards women had probably made Interpol begin screening their candidates to match that one requirement. And in an organization overwhelmingly dominated by men... Well, let's just say they didn't have to narrow it down as much after that. Botan, by default, became the obvious choice.

"Akira!" A voice rang out across the street as a woman leaned out a window. Her eyes flew to a small group of children playing along the edge of the road. "Akira, get in here now! Your supper is almost ready!"

Botan watched as regretfully a black haired boy separated from his playmates and hurried in side, amid the soft scolding of his mother to hurry and clean himself up.

It was like stepping back in time.

Hadn't her own mother done that? Scolded gently in Japanese before rolling her eyes and smiling at the tomboy she acted. Oh, Botan could always act proper when required, she donned the traditional kimono with ease, but when left to her own devices, she would wander off and play, somehow always ending up following the rougher boys around. It had caused her father no end of worry, but the boys thought of her as a younger sister, and even away from the expensive preparatory school that her parents worked hard to send her to, among the slightly run down neighborhood that they lived in, she never was hurt because of the protective gang that guarded her like eager puppies.

Slowly, the girl sighed, lost in memories. Some of the boys had grown up to lead normal lives, bankers, shop workers, some of the rougher ones joined gangs, became involved in crime, some even died, but only one had gone into Interpol, and he was the one who had gotten her involved too. Her cousin, who had followed her family shortly after their move to England. He was slightly older than her, but he never had the build of a rough-houser, and she always wondered how he had managed to become one of their leaders in the group. For his moderate stature, he had a commanding presence. Koenma.

She giggled slightly at his name once again. His parents had been more than a little presumptuous, a strange trait in a collectivist culture, naming their child as the son of a god, but she supposed it suited. He was now the commander of her division, looking after all of London and reporting directly to the man in charge of England, and he was also the one who sent her off.

'Koenma,' Botan thought ruefully at her absent leader, 'couldn't you have argued a little more against sending me here?' But there was no response to her silent inquiry, and no escape from the duty.

Soft footsteps fell as she continued on her way, hands stuffed into the pockets of her long jacket and the wind blowing her hair lightly around her. Dusk was fast approaching, and she could see the lamps beginning to turn on inside the houses. Evenly her heart beat, belying her rising panic as she walked, growing closer to her destination. Years of practice, she thought with irony. She had spent the last two years flying through the ranks, quickly showing her expertise in an area she had only begun in, international police control, and the four years before that going through Interpol's rigorous requirements in college. She had a bachelors in Electrical Engineering already, and her night classes were slowly advancing her to that of a master's degree. At the age of twenty four, she had turned out much differently than what her parents had expected, had planned for, a marriage off to one of the semi-nobility of Great Britain, impressing them with her well mannered Japanese soft spokeness. Instead their daughter was a genius in law enforcement.

Not that they weren't proud of her. Her mother boasted everyday to the neighbors down the street, inviting them for tea and chatting happily. Her father bragged to his coworkers down in the bakery where he made thousands of treats. And nobody who knew them did not know that their daughter had become a very important person with international associates. Of course, they couldn't reveal which institution she worked for, nor what she most commonly did, got the inside scoop on crimes in order for preventative measures, so instead they told stories that she worked as a secretary in the UN.

What stories, Botan wondered idly, would they tell if they knew what she was doing now? She sighed again. Only Koenma and those higher up knew where she was at the moment, and her purpose. The blue hair shook. 'Great, so if anything happens, no one will know. Because I _know_ Koenma, and if those idiots above him are anything like him, my parents will think I'm being overworked twenty years after I'm in my grave. He'll never tell.'

Sharply, she shook her head. 'Stop scaring yourself, old girl.' Her heart had never changed it's steady beat as she continued along the street, turning the corner into a small alleyway, hard to find if you hadn't been looking. Carefully, she matched up the number she had memorized with the one atop the door, knocked in a specific pattern, then waited. It had taken her over three months to get information on this lead, and the places she'd gone to get it weren't really that nice, so she prayed that everything was correct...

A slat slid open almost imperceptively above her head, only the fading sunlight allowed her to catch it, before it whipped closed again, without a sound. A few seconds and then the door in front of her was opening.

Brown eyes met her lavender ones with faint intrigue, a mocking glance thrown back into the shadows, before a grin was summoned to the man's face. "Well, what a surprise! Entertaining women, I see?" Rough muttering answered the obvious joke from further inside the room. "She certainly is a looker, I'll give you points for good taste." The roguish grin turned full force on the woman. "Yo, name's Yusuke." His eyes flashed for only a moment. "And you are?"

"Botan," the blue haired woman replied evenly, lavender gaze never moving from his own. She knew who he was, Yusuke Urameshi, currently wanted for all sorts of criminal dealings across Asia. Neither gave last names. They knew the rules.

The black haired man tilted his head, highlighting the slick upon it. "Can't say I've heard much about you."

Then again, Yusuke was also well known for breaking the rules. Botan refused to let her mind falter at his change in track. Usually, you did not ask questions that could find you with a gun barrel at your throat for prying. Deciding to play it low, she answered. "I work in Europe."

"But you're Japanese," he pointed out, noticing her ease with the language and natural looks.

Her voice never faltered. "I'm returning home for a visit. Sentimental value."

"And work, if you came here."

The lavender eyes flashed. "I wish to settle." A pause. "Yusuke."

The warning was clear enough, and Yusuke backed off, laughing with his hands held up. "Hey, I get the message. Backing off." That raking grin was back. "But if you ever need someone to show you around the town-"

"You're married." A mysterious voice from the back growled it out, from the area Botan still couldn't see in the dim lighting, and it sent more shivers down her spine that were hastily squashed. Show no fear.

Yusuke gave a long suffering sigh, but was smiling anyway. "Don't remind me. And don't you dare tell Keiko!"

"...hn."

"Yeah, yeah, 'hn' to you, too." He smiled at Botan again as he imitated the other man, then easily shifted her to the side before moving out the door. "Well, I'll see you later then!"

"Don't forget to tell the oaf."

Brown eyes rolled. "I know, Kuwabara dies if he goes near your sister again. La de da." Yusuke reassured that he would tell his long time friend/enemy and sometimes partner, then shut the door quietly. The lock slid automatically into place with it's closing.

Standing still and feeling somewhat foolish but also slightly frightened to be in the presence of a man she couldn't even see, Botan waited for her eyes to adjust. Slowly, things began appearing in the darkness. The room was small but comfortable, the entrance way to the side and a wall partitioning it off. The woman moved further inside, stepping softly on the tatami mats, and looking around at the deep red painted on the walls. Pictures hung without care, a few maps, some obviously up for decorative purposes, to give the place a homey feel but the subject matter truly not an issue to the owner, and one small photograph on a bookshelf of a smiling girl with turquoise hair and an innocent demeanor.

It was what the English would call a drawing room. Furniture was rich, but based on functionality. Everything had to have a purpose, the sofa for sitting, the coffee table for an easy spread of papers, light chairs for drawing up to it, a large desk for filing, and the chair behind it for executing the administrative work.

Which currently involved sizing her up. Botan drew in a quick breath as she noticed the man sitting there, finally, blocking out the light of a low banked fire behind him. His arm was resting on a knee that he had brought up, making his appearance slightly less formal, but nevertheless intimidating. Stature was short, if he wasn't slouching, which it didn't look like he was, and the air he gave off was feral. Without a doubt, Botan knew who sat before her.

The Flying Shadow. The Night Hunter. The Demon.

He was known by several names, but few knew his real one. Hiei. The thief that had plagued Interpol's Eastern resources for the past several years in efforts to capture him (all failed attempts) and who had ransacked several museums, palaces, and vaults taking priceless vases for the black market, but overwhelmingly jewels. Gems, the darker the better. He was the reason she was here, Interpol's latest plan that had been months in development. Chances of it working were slim to none, but still, it was her job...

"Well?" His voice was growling as he watched her eyes dance along with the small firelight across her face.

It startled her out of her reverie, and she dropped the comment without thinking. "Your eyes are red."

There was no answer, and she winced and bit her lip, remonstrating herself internally. 'Oh, please, Botan, of course they're red. Contacts are cheap, and no wonder people call him The Demon! Stupid, stupid-'

The voice broke through again, deep. "You'd better start explaining why you're here, or I'm kicking you out. Gouki said you would be worth my time."

"Ah, oh! Okay, um, sure," Botan replied quickly, her nervousness overpowering her for a second before she could regain control, straightening her shoulders and nodding forthrightly at him, noting the name of the man who had given her the information on where to find Hiei only briefly. "I am a Japanese native who's been keeping a good record over in Western Europe, but I've wanted to move back to Japan and live over here." Effortlessly she repeated the story she had told Yusuke. It was something she had drilled into her brain for quite a while now.

He stared at her longer, speculatively, before speaking once more. "Why?"

"Sentiments." She never hesitated. Honestly, she doubted her would believe her if she said she preferred the weather. France had some lovely beaches, after all.

"And you came to me...?" he prompted, growing impatient.

The lavender gaze never fell. "I'm good at working with other people, I've made quite a few heists that would have failed without my expertise, but I'm afraid I'm not good enough to work on my own."

Hiei was irritable in reply. "I'm not looking for an apprentice-"

"I'm offering myself as an assistant," Botan broke in, cutting off his dismissal. Risky move, but she really needed to stay, it had taken so long to get to this position!

His response was still annoyed. "You could have gone to Yusuke."

Botan stayed as straight as a streetlight. "You're the best."Flattery was always the best choice. When in doubt, flatter, she had been told this over and over.

The red eyes watched her for a moment more, before they narrowed. "Hn. What jobs?"

"The Copenhagen Lift, the Duchess of Burgandy Scandal last June, The Pieta theft from the Louvre-"

"That was found and returned."

Her chin lifted in response. "For an undisclosed price, quite a nice sum in a Swiss account. The painting was too famous to keep." She took silence as her cue to continue. "Pearls from the halls in Jordan, and several crosses encrusted with diamonds from the Vatican."

She had saved, if not her best for last, at least the one she had been forced to work the most. That was when her teacher had almost cast her off to work by herself. The thefts were real. What the man sitting in front of her didn't know was that the items were currently sitting by safely in the dusty halls of London's museum waiting to be returned to their owners after she completed what she came for.

The knee was down now, and he was leaning slightly forward in his chair. She had caught his interest. A small frown tugged his features. "Some of these jobs were rumored to have only had two people on them."

Botan shrugged. "I don't need too much assistance, and neither do you."

"I need none," he replied, face hardening, and she quickly moved her posture into an unassuming one as she gave quick apology. Her heart was beating. She could have, no, probably just lost him there...

Hiei leaned back in the chair, tapping his fingers against the cherry wood in front of him. His gaze never moved from her face as it became obvious he was thinking. Finally, the thief stood up, sharply, no movement wasted, and paced to stand in front of her. He was short, the hair spiking on his head in messy formation only adding a few inches and still he only reached her chin. But his black outfit rippled in a way that let her know there were muscles underneath, tightly compact and swift. He was not one to be trifled with.

Red eyes were examining her as well. Of average height, but thin, lithe, she moved with a natural grace when she wasn't startled or nervous. Clothes were nondescript, a pink shirt and skirt covered by a jacket, nothing flashy, she knew how to keep low. Though that hair of hers was certainly out there. But there were wigs. She probably knew how to use them. Fingers were made for that quick turn of the wrist, long and slender, and her eyes showed a spark of quick intelligence before she masked it over again, acting subservient. And she was. Acting, that is. He could tell, there was something she wasn't saying. His voice finally emerged, breaking through his contemplation for a moment. "What is this 'expertise'?"

She took a deep breath and started speaking as he circled her, examining her with every tone of impersonality. "I'm very good with electronics, one of the best in the field, and given time I can crack any security code."

"So can a computer."

Her fingers twisted together as she turned to look him in the eye, arms moving along with her. "I can make it go faster, and I don't need to hack the system directly to figure out how to get by security. The chance of detection falls greatly."

The Demon waited, then nodded once and continued his circling. "And?"

Botan calmed her nerves, summoning up more. "I know people in Europe-"

"This is Japan. They're useless."

She finished her statement unwaveringly. "-that you don't know, and who might have good connections here."

The eyes met hers once again. "Possibilities will not convince me."

Her next breath shuddering, she pulled herself back together. To be so intimidated by one gaze! And yet, there was also something... She pushed it away. "I have done jobs on site and am not a hindrance." The arm moved again, slightly as she stepped closer, bravely facing him. "And I can make a good lift-"

Suddenly, his hand was like steel on her arm, stopping it's aim at his waist. Eyes looked back at hers firmly. "Onna, I'm not about to lose my pants just for your enjoyment." Hiei watched the slow flush of her face before moving his left hand to relatch his belt. Without warning, he jerked her left arm down so that she was eye level. "Your first one was good, I barely noticed it, but the second was sloppy. You were pushing your luck, I knew where you were going the third time."

"Ah, I see," Botan's voice was small as she stared back at him, biting her lip. Her hand went quickly to inside her jacket, into the pocket there, only to come up missing. Eyes widened.

Hiei only smirked. The left fingers came up, holding a small gem on a necklace. "Looking for this? No one is allowed to take this from me. Be glad I didn't kill you."Quickly, it looped around his neck again, as if she had never flipped the catch when his back had turned as he was circling her.

He had stolen it back without her even noticing, and from her own jacket pocket as well! That was speed, and talent! Slowly, Botan flushed as she realized where his hands would have had to have gone to get that. Her voice came out in a gasp. "You-!"

"You're in no position to complain, onna. You took it from me in the first place." The tone moved into a petulant growl. "And I don't really want to answer the question of 'boxers or briefs' for you." His hand released her as he walked off, moving to tap against the desk with his back towards her for the moment, while Botan hurriedly clutched the jacket tighter around her and cutting off any view to her flowing top and short skirt.

She knew it. She was losing him. Speaking quickly, she pulled out everything she could give. "I'm sure you've heard of the blue-haired avenging angel that's been making the circuit over in Europe. She's been making quite a name for herself, and if you added-"

"Shut up," Hiei said, cutting her off easily and never turning. Fingers beat out a nameless rhythm on the desk. "For your information, I'm more concerned with your abilities, not your reputation. You can get one of those for simply being bad at what you do or sleeping around." The crimson gaze returned, chiding her. "Baka onna."

This time, Botan remained quiet.

But her heart was pounding as he finally gave a soft sigh, shaking his head. The shoulders rolled briefly before he turned to her. "Honestly, I don't have any use for you. I've always done things alone, I think you'll be better off going to see Yusuke. He's got the whole 'team' idea working for him. I'm feeling charitable today, amazingly, so I might even give you a recommendation..."

Botan had tuned him out after the very first sentence, not needing to hear anymore. She had made it this far, found him, even had him considering the idea, and still he wasn't agreeing to taking her on. She couldn't blame his instincts, but there was no way in hell she was giving up now! And hauntingly Koenma's warning ran through her mind 'It doesn't detract any that you're a woman as well.' She was a woman, which was why Interpol had selected her. Hiei might never have shown it, but rumors were out there that he had a soft spot for the females, refused to hurt them, some kind of honor code. Maybe, maybe it passed over into liking them for other reasons than just the platonic as well? And if ever she were going to use that in her favor...

The coat dropped with a soft thump to the floor, causing Hiei to glance up, distracted, from riffling through his desk. An irritated frown crossed his face as he looked towards her. "What do you think you're-?!" His eyes shot wide in surprise as she suddenly grabbed his shirt and yanked him to her, pressing her mouth firmly to his across the table. In contrast, hers were squeezed tightly shut, unwilling to look at his reaction. But she was moving her mouth in all fashions in order to convince him. Hard, soft, firm, pliable, and enticing. Her tongue licked daringly across his lips and it was all Hiei could do to not respond involuntarily to that invitation. Attraction surged.

As it was, he still kissed her back for a moment before managing to loosen her grip and pull himself away. Breathing was heavy. "Baka - onna! What the hell - do you think - you were doing?!!"

Frightened purple eyes stared back at him for a moment, innocent and scared, unsure. It didn't look as if she understood what had just happened either. Hiei cursed internally. She was reminding him of his sister, he had to fight down on the automatic protective urges at seeing her afraid. She _shouldn't_ be afraid, at least of him. With effort, the thought was crushed. 'Let her be afraid,' Hiei thought defiantly, 'I am a dangerous thief after all.'

He wasn't moving, and Botan had the chance to recapture her wits. Well, to a certain amount. She surged without thought around the desk and clung to his arm. "Please don't! I'm quite good, I won't be a liability at all!"

An uncontrollable shiver ran up his arm at the touch. "Onna, get off. I said no."

"Please!" She was begging.

"The answer was no!"

She was quiet for a moment, the shoulders moving softly, before she finally looked up again, tears in her eyes. "Please, just give it a shot, for me? Only one try." Her whole body was shaking as she wept silently.

Hiei stared down at her, before finally turning his face away in disgust at himself. "Fine. Whatever. But only one try! You get one shot before I tell you to get the hell out of my life! And there will be no recommendation to Yusuke either if you fail!" He watched her nod softly against his arm, then, with a rolling of eyes, reached down and started to pull her up. "Get off of the floor, you don't belong there."

Standing up with his assistance, Botan never looked him in the eyes as she moved to retrieve her jacket tiredly. She never noticed his carefully averted face as she bent over.

Grumbling softly, Hiei resumed his seat at his desk. "Now, questions, onna? I'm only asking you once."

Her voice was soft back. "Why do you have a real person watching the front and not a camera?" At the silence, she lifted her head, blinking. "I had wondered."

An eyebrow was raised as he finally just shook his head. "Hn. Stupid question. Eyes are more trustworthy than cameras. Don't think I didn't know your talents. Especially with electronics."

Botan's jaw fell open. "Then... you made me do that whole spiel for nothing?!"

"I had to be sure you weren't lying to me." Hiei's eyes were level. He was insuring that she was trustworthy as well. Lying would have immediately terminated her chances, slim as they were anyway. "Is that all?"

Slowly, Botan nodded. That was it.

"Hn. I'll see you the day after tomorrow, here, three o'clock, to discuss your job. Don't be late or you'll get no job at all." His face sharpened. "And if you see Yusuke, tell him to mind his own damn business, he's got no reason to be in mine."

Taking a deep breath, she nodded firmly. "Right." Her eyes met his before turning behind her and looking towards the door. Slowly, she began pacing out.

Hiei's fingers were up, speculatively, unconsciously tracing his lips where he still felt a tingle. Yusuke. Yusuke had said that he had good taste in women? Good taste. She tasted...

"Onna..." Botan paused on the way out and looked back to find Hiei hastily glaring at papers and maps on the desk as he shuffled them around. She hesitated, confused, only to hear him say, "Three, onna, don't forget. You can go." Puzzled, but nodding again, she left the room, going out the door into the night and disappearing.

Staring hard at his desk, Hiei let his hands still. He hadn't been about to ask that, had he? Ask if she had really meant that kiss? Idiot, of course she was just trying to distract him! Convince him. And he wasn't sure if he was yet. But if she was as thorough in everything else as she had been in that... Cursing, he pushed it out of his mind and shoved away from the desk. A coat was grabbed from behind the sofa and donned quickly, and the picture on the bookshelf tucked away. It was the only thing important to him in the building. Glancing briefly at the ladder he had climbed earlier to spy on his front door, he smirked faintly at it, then opened the door itself and walked out. It was time to visit his sister. And if the oaf was lurking around her house again, he might just have to kill somebody.

-

Botan walked swiftly back to her hotel, her mood ironic. That had not gone at all like she had expected. All of the training her teacher had given her, to be smooth, cool, and overall in control of her emotions, had flown out the window. She lived on emotions, and when it came to push and shove, she'd fall back on them in a crazed effort to pull through. Luckily it had worked this time, but she knew it probably was just dumb luck. Something in Hiei had shifted enough, thank goodness, to give her at least one try to stay on and work with him. She hoped maybe to get more, but one was enough, technically.

She had come here with the intents of getting undeniable proof that he was the man stealing these things, that he really was The Demon. There were no witnesses to testify, and he had a clean record under a court of law. Unless they found some stone cold proof, they'd never be able to convict, and he'd be able to disappear in seconds. So just one time working with him would do it. Though, really, she hoped to have a few more. To help her case! But also, she had to admit, to feel the thrill of working on something that big, to have the chance of being caught. Interpol had told her flat out that they would not be assisting her if she got caught in a job. Koenma had said he was working on that, but honestly...

Well, it was the thrill she wanted. Her teacher had taught her that, a master thief himself and now helping Interpol in exchange for parole. It had been exciting when she had been technically doing it legally, how much more of a jolt would she get by working with Hiei instead of the almost legendary Kurama? They were, in actuality, almost equal in fame, only in different circles. And she couldn't wait to find out.


	2. The Way it's Always Been

AN: Thanks very much for the reviews on fanfiction. I appreciate them, and it's highly encouraging. And your comments, Ciara, had me laughing the rest of the night. I'm glad that you like it. :)

Disclaimer: Standard

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**Tender is the Night**

-

The phone call was quick, fleeting, in an empty phone booth three blocks further than her hotel. She had little doubt that he was tracing her calls now, that Demon, he was always cautious no matter what. And so any call that she did not want monitored she had to make from public locations. Which was basically every call that was important. Devil take him for making this difficult for her, but then again, the more difficult, the greater the challenge, the greater the reward, right?

Her heart was beating in record time as she heard the tone thrice before the click came of someone picking up. The voice over the receiver was muffled by munching, English instead of the Japanese she'd been rattling out recently. "Yefhsh? Whosh thish?"

"Koenma, how many times have you been reprimanded for eating while working? You'll get crumbs all over the papers."

There was a hasty swallow. "_Botan_? Shesh! Are you up late or what?!"

"It's only a nine hour time difference," the girl sighed in return, looking down at her watch. "Like...ten o'clock..." She trailed off, surprised. Ten? But she had to have entered in that room of Hiei's at around six! Just how long had she spent there? Granted, the walk back to her hotel wasn't a short one, but still!

Shaking it off, she tuned back into the rest of what Koenma was saying. "...and I'm trying to delay them as long as possible, saying 'these things take time,' but we really need results, Bo-"

She cut him off, tone proud. "Don't worry about it."

"...what?"

"I said don't worry about it, I'm in. That lead I got from the Gouki guy payed off. I've found Hiei Jaganshi playing thief. I can't confirm anything yet, but soon I should be able to."

Koenma was testy on the other end of the line. "Like how soon, cousin? I can't keep the wolves at bay forever."

Her mind flew rapidly, calculating what she would need. It could be finished in a week, but she always did tread the line of danger. More time meant more heists. The words came out level, calm, as if she was only thinking of her efforts for Interpol. "Give me a month and a half."

"_Botan_! I'm not even sure I can get you three weeks!"

The heartbeat was deafening in her ears and she prayed he couldn't hear it over the long distance connection. "A month and a half. Anything less and I'm not sure I can make any promises. He's quite stubborn." That was a half truth. Hiei was amazingly stubborn, but the time was for her. Please let Koenma not have noticed her nervousness.

Silence passed for a long moment, before a sigh finally flowed out. "Fine. Fine, I'll do what I can. But don't you dare get into trouble! Because you might be trading your invulnerability as part of this system for that full period. Got that?"

He was telling her he couldn't get her out of jail if she was caught. Botan gulped, but when she spoke again her eyes were glinting and a faint smile could be seen. "I understand."

"Good. I'm expecting you to stick to this."

"I'm expecting you to as well," she replied evenly, the heartbeat slowing. She had pulled it off. A month and a half to do what she wanted. Freedom had never felt so good. It was like ambrosia to overloaded senses. Botan barely suppressed the giggle in victory.

Her cousin spoke with irony. "Have I ever let you down? Don't answer that." They shared short laughter before his voice turned serious. "Take care of yourself. Botan."

Botan closed her eyes, smiling into the telephone. "I will. Koenma." And the receiver was set down with a click. There were no promises to call back, to check in. She'd call when she could, whether in a week, or two, or after that full month and a half. With such uncertainties, it was better not to promise anything.

Seconds later, darkness whirled into her place in the phone booth.

--

The night was silent. Like it should be. But it was an oddity for Tokyo, especially in the circles he usually operated in. Then again, everything was supposed to be quiet for her, and then the lack of noise became acceptable.

Standing in the residential district, an old one, but one well maintained, Hiei looked up. Around them, the styles never changed. Where other areas had turned more modern, focused in on the new designs of housing, gaining European, Neoclassical, and Contemporary influences, this had remained firmly Japanese. Walls lined the street, hiding the contents of the grounds behind them. And over the entrance ways, beside doors, stood nameplates declaring who exactly dwelled inside.

Hiei watched silently, reading the one in front of him, hands in the pockets of his jacket and his expression carefully neutral. It was the site of his first crime and he hadn't even intended it to be. But that's the way it went sometimes. The place where he had been born. Eyes flashed away from the sign with disgust as the hand reached out effortlessly to push open the door. Koorime residence.

Trees lined the pathway up to the main house, concealing it's bulk. Hiei moved irreverently through the stray foliage. He'd have to tell the gardeners to pick up on that. If even _his_ short form could encounter resistance, then they obviously weren't doing their job correctly. His sister was too kind about things sometimes.

With barely a pause, he slid his feet out of the shoes he was wearing, then slid open the front screen. Eyes didn't have to adjust much for the dim lighting in the entranceway. It was late for visitors, and the house didn't receive that many at this time, unless it was him. Or the oaf, reciting poetry. Hiei rolled his eyes and tossed off the thought. Kuwabara should have received the warning by now. He doubted he'd be interrupted with meeting with his sister tonight by the fool's caterwauling. If the baka didn't have a death wish, that was.

A voice startled him out of his thoughts. "Welcome, Koorime-sama. Yukina-sama is waiting in the West Tea room." A man was bowing low in the doorway to the side.

Hiei turned with a growl. "I _told_ you not to call me that!" A hand shot out to grab at the man's shirt. The startled face was jerked barely an inch away from Hiei's glaring eyes. "If you do so again, you're fired, no questions asked. I don't care if my sister likes you, you're out!"

"R-right! H-h-" The doorman was shaking, his eyes wide. He panicked, unable to remember the proper address, finishing with a weak "sama."

"Jaganshi," the shorter man spit out in return. "Jaganshi, Hiei. There is no 'sama' in my name, don't put one there."

The man could only nod. With dismissal, Hiei pushed him aside, then continued moving into the house. Idiot doorman. In Hiei's mind, there was only _one_ "Koorime-sama" and he never wanted to be associated with that man! The man who had married his mother in an arranged move, who was as frigid as ice to everyone, including his new wife, and who had entered his only enraged state ever when he had learned that the first born in his house wasn't even his child. The next one, Yukina, was of his lineage, but Hiei was irrevocably not. The boy had been clothed and fed, barely, until the age of twelve, living in shame in a house on the back edge of the lands with a nurse that his mother provided. He had seen his sister only by will of his mother, who had snuck him back inside and tried to coddle him when the man of the house was away. It hadn't been a pleasant meeting, he blamed his mother as well as her husband, but for some reason, his sister never felt the force of it. Her he had always been kind to, always treated her like an older brother should.

At the age of twelve, Koorime-sama had grown tired of taking care of him, of the unremovable black mark Hiei had placed on his honor and his sense of virility, and had summarily turned him out, noting that he was old enough to find work if he wished it and to survive. The choice of work, of course, had been entirely left up to Hiei himself.

His mother, he had heard later, was a broken woman after that. A major row had ensconced the house after his absence, but it took only a week for her to topple. She became listless, biddable, without life. She had lost that fire in her that had prompted her to fall in love with another man early in her marriage, to have illicit meetings with him, to conceive a child out of passion. And everyone knew it. If Koorime-sama thought he had been ridiculed for having a bastard heir, he was despised for having a heart-broken wife. The only perhaps boon given to her was that she died within the year.

The only thing that was slightly redeeming to Hiei was, although the man had always wished for another male child, so that Hiei could be rightfully disowned and another boy to carry on the name of 'Koorime,' he had never, ever been unkind to Yukina. Where his wife received none of his love, Yukina received all of it, perhaps the only love he had ever given in his life. He doted on her, gave her gifts to outdo all of the other young women in the area, ensured that she partook in the best kind of education available. She had taken over the running of the household when her mother had died, but unlike how he treated his faithless wife, her father always listened to Yukina. And the whole house became brighter, cleaner. And other people in high society stopped remarking on Koorime-sama's stiff boundaries and instead on the grace and beauty of his only daughter.

When he had died, six years ago, Yukina had wasted no time in hunting down her brother. It had taken almost another year, he had left Japan to instead become based in China with fellow "entrepreneurs" Yusuke and Kuwabara and visited his island country rarely. It was luck that her man had found him that day, recognizing him from his still short form of childhood, a trait heavily passed down by his petite mother, and fate that he had been able to convince Hiei to return to the house.

Between them, the reunion had been quiet but emotional. With tears in her eyes, Yukina had told him that 'their' father had gone against tradition and left her the house and all of his business dealings. She hadn't appeared frightened, she had been helping him out with the business for the last few years of his life, and she knew she could run it with little problems, the supervisors would listen to her and assist her when needed. But her voice was shaking with happiness as she also announced that Hiei had never been disowned. Koorime-sama hadn't given him much, he was still bitter, but he had realized that there were times when you had to bury the hatchet, if just for the sake of your soon to be lonely daughter, and he had left Hiei with the one thing most important to him - his name. The will had named him Koorime, Hiei, and had left him the responsibility of being there for his sister if she ever needed him.

In short, the man had acknowledged Hiei as his son.

And Hiei didn't want it anymore. He had made his way through the world with another name, Jaganshi, Hiei. To take up the name of a man he despised-! But for the look on Yukina's face, he had buttoned his mouth and nodded silently, letting it go. For her, he would always be her brother. But for everyone else, his name was Jaganshi, and pain would come upon any who did not keep on referring to him as such.

Light echoed down the hallway, clearing his thoughts, and his face lost it's scowl. As he stepped into the room with soft taps, a young woman sitting in a plush chair turned from her book, then stood up quickly, rushing over with a smile. "Onii-san!"

Twenty three and lovely. His sister. "Yukina," Hiei returned, nodding slightly and allowing the barest hint of a mirroring smile to appear.

She grabbed his hand and began tugging the unprotesting man over to the sofa. "It's been a while since you've visited!"

"I came last night," he replied with irony.

"But you left almost right after I greeted you to chase after Kazuma." The turquoise haired girl continued her bustling without noticing Hiei freeze slightly, eyebrow rising. She was calling him by his first name? It was very difficult to keep the glare at bay for an absent Kuwabara. Just how many times had the oaf visited?! That would have to be remedied. Soon. Sitting down next to him, Yukina turned bright eyes to her brother. "So! What have you been doing lately?"

Hiei blinked absently, tuning back in. "I've been away to Australia. I've gotten you a present, don't let me forget to bring it to you tomorrow."

Her expression turned slightly apologetic. "Tomorrow? Oh, Hiei-san, I'm sorry, but tomorrow I'm meeting with the other ladies in the area to get ready for Yumiko-san's wedding. We'll probably be away for the entire day, and Yumiko-san's offered to put me up for the night as well." Yukina tilted her head. "How about the day after, in the afternoon?"

"I've got a meeting then." The response was automatic as Hiei frowned slightly and began mentally searching for another good time to meet.

But Yukina had been surprised at the statement. "Really? You usually don't do business in Japan, is it with Yusuke or Kazuma?"

He glanced up, distracted, only to realize his slip and wince slightly. He knew that look. His sister was unusually patient, but she was also quite stubborn, a trait they shared. She would not let this go until she received some sort of answer. Hiei sighed. "No, I've engaged a new associate."

"Oh?" Yukina's smile brightened. "That's great! It's good for you to meet new people! Will I get to meet this person as well, like I did when you took me out to dinner with Yusuke, Keiko, and Kuwabara? What's his name?"

Hiei's lips quirked slightly. "Botan."

Nodding complacently, Yukina looked thoughtful. "That's a nice name, very nice." The smile turned slightly playful. "Is he good looking?" Seeing Hiei's widened eyes and quick disgruntlement that Yukina was interested in that sort of thing, she laughed, denying it lightly. After all, she already had Kazuma.

Hiei shook it off, raising an eyebrow at her. "Very, but I doubt you'll be much into dating 'him.' And I'd prefer if you didn't think of any of my associates that way. It's better for you to marry someone of your own social standing." There was no way he was letting his sister get even more involved than she already was in the life of crime. Right now she barely brushed the edges, oblivious to his true work. If she started a relationship with anyone in the business, that secrecy wouldn't be possible anymore, and she'd be setting herself up for a life of constant danger and the threat of jail. Absolutely no way.

Sighing in the sudden silence, Hiei spoke again. "And you? What have you been up to?"

"This and that," Yukina replied easily. "Father's business is doing well." She still didn't think of it as her own, even when she had been running it for years. "Shipments are running regularly. Yumiko-san's wedding is coming up, I told you about that one, and I've been invited to be a bridesmaid. It's all very nice, I'll have to show you my dress." The girl flashed a bright smile before turning back to her narrative. "Your old nurse, Eri-san, has had her first grandchild just recently, she's on vacation right now. Oh, and I got an invitation to the party Nakano, Mukashi-san is throwing. He sent one to you as well, I think he's trying to be impressive, inviting everyone in town to his bash out in the country. You know, the house he has up in Iwate, near the Kamaishi Bay. They invited me last spring." The face turned away slightly, shaking with an ironic look. "But I don't think I'm going to this one. I'll get your invitation though." She stood up and hurried away, moving out of the room.

On the sofa, Hiei sat thoughtfully, a small frown on his mouth. Nakano, huh? He'd visited once as well, though not with his sister. The man had good taste in jewelry, or at least his wife did. Too bad she was now missing some of her finer pieces. Faint amusement ran through his head. Nakano. No doubt he had better security now, in this technological age.

Yukina rushed back in, interrupting his contemplation. She smiled as she handed over the invitation. "Here! I didn't open it, but I'm pretty sure it's the same as mine."

"Hn." With a quick motion, Hiei tore a thumb under the seal, then folded open the invitation. Looking down, he read swiftly.

The eyes were annoyed when he had finished. Nakano was being as offensively arrogant as ever. One of the reasons Hiei had so easily targeted him the first time. Yukina was being nice when she had said that he was trying to be impressive. Hiei thought he was trying to be the biggest, cockiest jerk on the planet. The letter was all but screaming out "rob me again!" Slowly, he shrugged. He rarely did requests, but this time, well, who could deny that? And he did need a job.

"I'll go," Hiei said shortly, looking back up at his sister.

"It's in a week," she replied, puzzled. "Are you still going to be here for that?" When Hiei nodded again, she smiled and hugged his arm. "Great! We'll have time to have dinner together or go out someplace even! I'll take you out this time, my treat!"

"Sure." Her brother was carefully controlling that small smile that was trying to twitch out, but she could still see it. His face drifted over to the lamp in the room, staring for a moment, hand tapping the invitation absently in his hands as the expression faded. If she took him out, he'd be going as her brother, as Koorime, Hiei. Eyes caught the edge of the invitation. Same as when he went to Nakano's. Kuso. But he could deal with it. Everyone knew how touchy the brother of the Koorime heiress was. The only problem was that if he went as a different person, then _she_ would have to as well. Red flashed back to Yukina's patient face.

The girl blinked, turning her head slightly. "Is something wrong, Hiei-san?"

He waited a beat, then let out a small breath of air. "No, not really." A pause, before he continued. "Yukina, do you have any extra dresses around?"

In response the girl nodded slowly, utterly confused.

--

Expensive, expensive, expensive. She paid over £200, full English pounds, for a room in that hotel that was barely big enough to slide a bed, a night stand, and a sink into. The bathroom was down the hall. Waving distractedly at the front desk woman as she pulled the hat down more firmly on her head, Botan just sighed. This was Tokyo, though, and space was something of a commodity. As she walked out onto the crowded streets, she felt even more the intense longing for her home back in England. Sure, people weren't bad, usually she was quite the social butterfly, but usually she wasn't trying to keep herself from being run into and stepped on. Thank goodness her height was roughly even with others and her blue hair made her stand out, though this hat didn't really help much today. How did Hiei stand this all of the time?!

But then, he didn't live here often, so she guessed that answered her question as well. Though he must have some sort of attachment to the land if he kept on coming back to it.

Whatever it was, she hadn't seen it yet.

Ducking a train and deciding to ride today instead of walk, she squeezed in to allow more people to pack inside behind her.

It was two thirty when she reached her destination. When they said the trains ran on time, they ran on time! Strolling now, she followed the way she had taken two days earlier. It was quieter over here, more peaceful, even during the busy hours of the workday. People moved fast, but not in a blur. Children played on the streets. Tokyo suburbia. Another face of the city.

The time hit two fifty as she stood outside the door, hesitating. The alleyway was empty, no one would see her enter, but still... He had said not to be late, but was being early also a crime?

The sound of the door swinging open answered her question. Hiei stood inside, the room still dark behind him, with an eyebrow raised as he looked at her. "What are you doing, onna?"

"Doing?" she asked blankly, before she jumped. "Oh, just standing here! Well, I was waiting for three, but - okay, I'm coming inside now!" Hurriedly she entered through the door, smiling nervously at him as he rolled his eyes and swung the gateway shut again. Footsteps thumped quietly through the dark room, and she followed those more than her still adjusting vision.

A light was flipped on the way, bringing the room into clarity. Hiei motioned to the sofa absently, waiting for her to sit down primly.

As she did, he took up the large chair pulled beside his desk and watched her for a moment, before finally speaking. "How good are you at dancing?"

"What?!" Lavender was clearly thrown off. "Dancing, well, I'm okay at it, I've gone out a few times, but - Hiei, I don't understand why you're asking!"

"Mingling, socializing? Not making a fool of yourself?" The look was particularly sharp on that one.

Botan shook her head, blue locks scattering with confusion. "I can handle myself okay with people, but surely you're not taking me out clubbing or something for the job!" she joked lightly, her laughter ringing out. When met with his level calm, it abruptly halted. "You're not... are you?!"

He brushed off the comment, as well as her incredulous stare. "I'm making sure you won't be an embarrassment to me."

"At what?!"

"Hn." There was silence in the room for a moment, before Hiei spoke again, leaning back slightly into his chair and staring off into space. "You came looking for a job, correct, onna?" At her faint sound of agreement, he continued. "Your record is of descent standing, though you could have relied mostly on your partner for that." He ignored her quick protests. "But I'm assuming you want to prove me wrong." Red eyes turned, finally, to meet hers.

"Of course," Botan responded immediately, nodding vigorously.

Fingers tapped the chair for a few moments, before Hiei stood suddenly, moving for the door. "Let's go, then."

"G-go where?!" Belatedly, as the door opened, she hopped off the sofa to sprint after him. Hiei locked the door without a word and began moving down the street, Botan following close behind. "Where are we going, Hiei? What's going on?"

He just continued walking.

"Oh, come on! I need you to explain!"

At this he stopped to throw a glare back at her. "Explanations are to never be given on the street." He waited until she ducked her head, wincing, before he began walking again. "Anyway, they would be pointless until I am certain it can be done."

Sighing at his stubbornness, Botan gave up on that. "Can you at least tell me where we're going?"

"I doubt you know the city that well, it would be best just to follow."

Another sigh and the girl turned her eyes to following street signs and houses. They gradually became more upscale as the walk continued, and eventually cut off entirely as walls sprung up in the way.

Hiei turned at the entrance of one of them, opening the door without hesitancy. Botan's jaw dropped. "You can't be expecting me to steal something in broad daylight from a house like this!!"

"Shut up!" he shot back at her, glaring. "I do not, this is preparation. Now be quiet, you're my new associate, and whatever happens, do not act with that idiotic surprise."

Sighing and grumbling faintly, she nodded, following as he turned back to walking inside the gate. The house that appeared was absolutely stunning, everything a traditional Japanese styled house should be. Screen doors, wooden porches, a lovely sloping ceiling. Botan held her breath, eyes widened, as she stared at it all. Hurriedly, she lowered her gaze as Hiei slid open the next door, removing his shoes on the way.

"Ko... Jaganshi-san." A man greeted them at the door, bowing slightly. Hiei acknowledged him with a brief look.

"Better."

The doorman sighed in relief. "Mistress Yukina is out in the garden right now. She said she was expecting you."

Waving him off, the short man looked back to the doorway, where Botan was hopping around slightly as she tugged off her second shoe. He sighed and caught her arm as she stumbled out of it. "Come on, don't waste time." Her protests were lost with the shoe as he tugged her quickly away, moving down the hallway at a fast pace. Botan's confused look that she tossed back at the doorman was answered with a shrug.

"Where are we going?" she asked again, forgetting her failed attempts last time.

This time, however, after a pause, he answered. "We're going to see my sister." Eyes flashed, firm, to look at hers, and the voice came out low, warningly, as he continued dragging her along. "There will be no mention of my... 'occupation,' nor yours, or it will be one of the last things you say, do I make myself clear?" Her head bobbled up and down like a doll's. "Good. And no matter what, you will be polite."

Botan blinked. "Of course, who do you think I am?"

Hiei chose not to answer that question.

In seconds, he was opening another barrier, this one letting in the sun. Botan winced and shaded her eyes as they moved over on the porch to a small table, where a girl had stood up and was smiling as she greeted them.

Her height was even with Hiei's, their faces the same, there was only one person she could be. His sister. "Hello! You must be a friend of onii-san's. Konichiwa! I'm Koorime, Yukina." She gave a polite bow, smiling the whole time. Her disposition was radically different than what Botan had expected in the brief period of anticipation. She was almost the antithesis of her brother.

"Matsuda, Botan," the blue haired woman replied automatically, bowing in return with a smile as well.

Yukina's eyes widened for a moment, before a tinkling laugh was heard. "Your name is very pretty, Botan-san." She looked at Hiei's indifferent form for a moment, before turning back to the girl. "As are you."

"Thank you," Botan replied, her cheeks tinging slightly. "I could say the same of you."

The smaller girl shook her head slightly, waving it off as she turned to her brother. "Now I understand why you wanted the dresses, Hiei-san." The smile was playful on the edges. "I must admit, it is relieving."

"Hn."

She clapped her hands. "Well, now, down to business then!" A hand caught her arm gently, and she looked back to find Hiei holding out a small box. He laid it in her hand, then backed away.

"I did promise to bring your gift the next time."

"Right," Yukina replied, smiling. The look paused for a moment as her eyes took in the delicate opals that hung on earrings and a necklace, before it strengthened as she looked back at him, speaking softly. "Arigato, onii-san."

He only nodded in brief reply, looking off into the garden.

Yukina turned back to Botan. "Let's go, Botan-san, Hiei-san asked me if he could borrow a few dresses of mine, and I'm assuming they must be for you." Her expression was timid for a moment. "We're not quite of the same height, but I think I might be able to find some things that can work..."

"I'm sure they'll all be great!" Botan reassured her quickly, smiling back. Such an innocent girl as Hiei's sister, no wonder he didn't want her to know about his 'other life.' Indeed, the files had hardly mentioned her at all, he avoided getting his sister involved.

Yukina looked at her gratefully, then began leading her off. "Here, we'll go look through my closets together while Hiei-san gets us tea, and then you can come out an model them, okay?"

Botan's choke of surprise and widened glance thrown back at the short thief was ignored.


	3. Benediction of the Neon Light

AN: Again, reviews were highly appreciated, even if I did take forever to update. :) Thanks very much.

Disclaimer: Standard

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**Tender is the Night**

-

She stood, one hand poised over the railing, very still as she gazed down at the crowd. Little did she know they were looking back at her, out of the corner of their eyes, through glasses, throwing curious glances up.

She was gorgeous, this woman, blond hair gleaming in the soft indoor light, blue eyes flashing slightly as she turned her head. The figure was soft, flowing, holding a sense of unforced grace, and yet her body was lithe. The features were almost innocent, and yet there was something enticing and knowing about them. And the dress, gods, the dress appeared to have descended from heaven just for her. Long, lovely navy blue, the style traditional Chinese, it was trimmed in golden hints, copper whirling in a cloud-like design, and light blue giving accent. Deep within it's depths, the dress would gleam a fire eyed red, as darkly, almost invisible dragons peered out from behind the clouds, breathing the element. Around her neck on a golden strand hung a simple pendant, tassel swishing below, that sported a golden dragon, king of them all, rearing proudly. The colors accented her natural features marvelously, blue was good for her, and made her seem almost unearthly in comparison with the rest of the guests.

Quite simply, she was an angel. The dress was merely something she had brought down with her for her short visit to the earth.

She stood, one hand poised over the railing, very still as she gazed down at the crowd. And finally, she caught the annoyed gaze of the person she was looking for. Turning to thank the coat check man for waiting for her, she passed off her wrap as well for now and descended the stairs.

The owner of the annoyed eyes was there to catch her arm as she reached the bottom. "Took you long enough, onna," Hiei muttered, his expression carefully neutral as he moved closer to the party.

"Sorry, you said we should enter separately, but I'm afraid I got a bit lost. You never told me the house was this big!"

"Hn." And then they were standing before another man, his eyes a bit too small for his face, but his bearing portly, reflecting a rich lifestyle for most of his life. Beside him, his wife was floating, giddily clinging to his arm while almost perpendicular to him, chatting to her friends nearby. "Nakano-san." The short man nodded briefly, the woman next to him sharpening her gaze.

Blinking and smiling grandly, the host of the party gazed down. "Why, Hiei-san! What a surprise! I am honored that you chose to attend my little get together when you're usually in the country for such a short stay. Your sister didn't join you? And who is this lovely young woman that you have on your arm?" Boisterous laughter let out.

Hiei's stony gaze was palpable. "My sister is currently involved in a wedding. It would be too taxing of her to travel here just for a party."

Nakano nodded it off with the air of a man who knew everything. "Oh yes, of course, Yumiko-san. Well, tell Yukina-chan that I will see her at the wedding! We upper class have to stick together you know." Again the laughter.

In front of him, Hiei was barely controlling the twitching. Of course Nakano wanted to stick close to Yukina, she was richer than him after all. And her wealth, elegance, and kindness were some of the only reasons Hiei himself was rarely remarked on. It was mostly that knowledge, that any rude remark he gave would be reflected on her, that kept his mouth in line. He shouldn't worry as much, Yukina knew how to handle fools like this well enough, even with her soft ways.

Ignoring the comment for all he was worth, Hiei turned shortly and brought the woman beside him forward. "This is Amelia Bird," he said simply, giving the name in Western fashion. "I met her in America and she's visiting the country. I thought that your entertainment would be a good way to show off what the _elite_ of Japan do with themselves." The tone of his voice was mocking.

Obligingly, the blond nodded, letting out a happy smile. "How do you do?" It was voiced in English, the accent carefully American. Slowly, hesitantly, she repeated it in Japanese.

Nakano smiled broadly, as if she were an exotic animal doing a smart trick. "It's lovely to have you, Bird-san, you are welcome to enjoy the full benefits of living wealthy in Japan for the evening." He had totally missed Hiei's maliciousness in that statement. "I hope you have a good time."

"Arigato," the girl said softly, still smiling.

Across from her, the man winked openly. "And you must be quite talented to catch the eye of our little Hiei. He's been firmly a bachelor for quite a few years now."

The comment left the girl blushing, but it was only a miracle that Nakano's wife, at this point, pulled him firmly into her conversation. "Oh, dear, you must tell them what a lovely time we had in Athens last summer! Nuriko just won't believe it!" A half drunken giggle and an apology and the couple had turned away, placing Hiei and his fierce glare behind them.

Staring for only a moment longer, the short thief turned with militaristic precision, bringing his guest along with him. "Pretentious shieiji." His muttering was quiet but full of venom. "He really makes me sick."

"Oh, come on, he can't be that bad," the girl tried with a half smile. Her blond hair glittered under the chandeliers. "After all, if arrogance passed disease, you'd be a walking contamination."

The sudden pause he took to positively glare at her had people running into them left and right. Disgruntled guests made soft comments while the blond winced, then hurriedly, grabbed tighter to the man's arm. "Hiei! Why didn't you tell me there was sushi!" The voice was loudly English. "Honestly, I supposed to be experiencing Japan!"

His look sent shivers down her spine, but at least he complied and started leading her away before they made a bigger commotion. Hiei spoke quietly the entire way to the buffet table. "Baka onna. If you feel comfortable enough to insult me, I might just expose you right now. And they'll trust me over you, so behave yourself. I did not have to agree to this."

"Right, right," she said hurriedly, reaching for a cup to sooth her nerves. Its contents, red wine, gave her eyes the faintest lavender sheen in reflection, closer to their true color. Botan winced slightly at the blond beside it. Honestly, why did Hiei think she could pull this off? He had said he was testing her acting skills, but she wasn't sure she would pass. It was hard acting classy at a party, she had rarely been in this kind of situation and now felt like a fish out of water. At the academy it had been overwhelmingly academics, there were only a few "en vivo" experiences to recount, and most of those had been tracking down people with the police force in the area. For some reason, elegant parties and manhunts just did not coincide in Botan's head. Not at all.

But she managed to sip the drink elegantly and as smoothly as if she had been brought up amongst such richness for all of her life. The glass was set back down, the alcohol hardly taken in, as she turned back to her companion. "Okay, now that we've met the host, shall we get down to the task at hand?"

"Not yet," he shot back, frowning distractedly as he watched the center of the room. "We have to been seen for a longer amount of time, blend in, otherwise they'll become suspicious of us later."

Nodding to herself with comprehension, Botan followed his gaze, then let a small smile linger on her lips. "You know, Hiei-san, this is a party." The voice was almost thoughtful.

In response to the tone, he turned to look at her, a sign to continue, though his posture said he wasn't quite sure where she was intending to go with this.

And her hand came to rest on his arm as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Hiei-san, I do believe it is the man who leads the woman to the dance floor."

The pause was infinitesimal, not noticeable but for the flash in his eyes. "No."

"Dancing is good for your body, makes you more limber," she reasoned, the smile never wavering as she watched couples swirl. Botan could almost feel the refusal hovering on his lips. "And anyway, what better way to be noticed and not have to talk to anybody?"

There, she had hit it, his anti-social streak. Damn, but her reasoning was good! And it wasn't as if he didn't know how to dance. Odd knowledge, picked up here and there. He'd done the rounds as a high class jewel thief for several years now. The pause now was longer, and not a bit more agreeable. "Fine. We'll dance. But you will remain silent."

She never gave reply as he was leading her forward with determined steps, the hand over hers on his arm not merely for a show of affection but also to keep her startled feet in time with his own brusque movements.

They hit the floor and he whirled her abruptly to face him, only to easily begin following the dance patterns of those around. A salsa. Someone had signed up a fake Mariachi band to play for the occasion. Hiei almost snorted. Japanese culture displayed indeed! This was Spanish if he'd ever heard it, though that peculiar twanging of strings did add the oriental flavour.

Dresses swished as hips moved with the rhythm. Botan watched with interested eyes at the display around her. Obviously, some knew the dance and some did not. She watched a particular couple trip and nearly take out three others around them. Thank goodness she had a good grasp on this one. Kurama always did like to go out to shady halls after finishing a job, to take a drink, relax with his hidden smile. Not that she had ever danced much with him. Likely Botan would have gotten her eyes scratched out by a dozen or so of his instant admirers, but there was this interesting Brazilian who had tried to charm her on occasion by twirling her around the floor. She'd been flattered, impressed by his moves, but hardly swayed away. 'Cute but no cigar,' the phrase might have gone.

Attention drifted from those around them to her own partner. And Botan could barely keep down the smirk. Hiei danced with precision, every move was exactly as it should be, but there was no freedom, and especially, what all latin dances demanded, no swinging of the hips. He was as stiff as a board in that respect.

So it was no surprise that she tried to improve that. Hiei's eyes snapped back to her the moment he realized what was going on. "Onna, I don't know where you learned, but traditionally the _man_ is supposed to lead."

No, response, only a tightening of her hands on his and a broadening of her smile as she moved closer, swaying exaggeratingly and trying to force him to reciprocate some of the movement.

"Onna!" he hissed out, pushing her back slightly.

Her face turned into a fake but cute moue. "Oh? Am I allowed to speak now?"

The glare was back, doubled. "You're treading a fine line."

"Hiei, don't cause a scene," she chided slightly, smiling at him. "You're too stiff, loosen up and have a bit of fun." She led them into a short spin, while he tried and failed to stop her, forced instead to go along lest he break the rhythm of the dance. "Otherwise people will notice," Botan added innocently.

"You're testing my patience, onna. Stop leading." There was a spark in his eyes as he said it, spinning them back to their previous position.

With elegance, she twisted, drawing them into a brief promenade. "Come on, what'll you do if I stop? Become stiff again?"

It came again, that short spark. She was challenging him, and he would rise to meet it. "This." As she closed their formation again, back to starting position, he surprised her, by quite simply forcing her into a quick trot across the floor, backwards the entire way. They were cutting through couples with ease as he added a few turns to keep her from running into people. Obviously, Hiei knew how to dance.

Botan's eyes were wide as she watched the dance floor slide away, then come back in close as he turned them back around to cut through again. She gasped, almost yanking out of his grip on her hands before she caught herself. No, no, two could play this game. The Brazilian had been good, and she could do better. And so she began ruthlessly using the ladies' moves. Twirls, spins, regal twists of the feet. He would only get her back a few paces before she managed to strike first. And once they started a new move, they couldn't stop unless they wanted to fall flat on their faces. Tension ran high as each struggled to be the first to recognize the end, so they could be the first to begin the next pattern.

It was with belated realization that they both stilled, pausing for breath as they strained to listen for music to keep the rhythm. There was nothing, the band had finished, and there was a small circle around them as the rest of the dancers watched their silent pantomime and struggle.

He leaned in almost savagely, being noticed more now than he'd ever wanted to be in the first place. The whisper was in her ear. "When we get out of here, I am going to _kill_ you!"

Breath still came fast from the exertion as all she could manage were short, scared huffs of laughter. He wouldn't be joking. Not when his voice was so... so... she couldn't put it in words. _Serious_ was just too light. A shiver ran up her spine in reaction.

"Brava!" The shout rang out across the quiet room as Nakano moved forward, his larger girth forcing others out of the way. "Very good, Hiei-san! You, too, Amelia-chan! Who knew we had such talent at our party? You've really managed to keep us entertained!"

The shorter thief felt like growling, but kept it to a grumbled, "Hn."

"Th-thank you," Botan said, a half smile on her face, one hand clinging nervously to her partner. It dropped almost immediately. Why was she clinging to him? He was the one going to murder her!

Nakano took the action a different way entirely. Obviously, the poor girl was just embarrassed about her attraction for Koorime-san, no doubt about it. When he had whispered sweet nothings to her at the end her face had been totally red. The host flashed a smile of reassurance at the girl. No problem, he was feeling beneficent tonight, he'd graciously honor them with another chance to express their feelings. And of course Hiei would owe him for that.

A quick clapping of hands rang through the room as he turned to the band. "I think we might let the couple have one more dance, what do you think? Since they obviously _enjoyed_ the last one so much." Short laughter emerged as the other guests forgot their surprise and caught on to Nakano's matchmaking plans. They thought they were teasing their oddest member about his new girlfriend.

They had no idea.

Hiei was glaring at everyone, arms crossed over defensively, but what did they care? They all knew that Yukina's brother was a bit of an odd ball and definitely a grouch at times. Of course he would become obstinate over people finding out about his relationships. What else would be normal?

"Mariachi! I think, hm... I think _that _one would be best, don't you?"

Across the room, his wife squealed, obviously a bit out of it from the alcohol, but she looked positively enraptured by the thought. "Oh, yes! You know how I love watching that dance! So romantic!"

In the middle of the floor, thoroughly confused, Botan was blinking. "Hiei, what are they talking about? Hiei?"

Forgoing reply, the short man merely watched with hard eyes as Nakano smiled gleefully at him and winked at Botan, while the band rolled their eyes at their employer's antics (they followed instructions, though, as he paid marvelously) and started up the next tune. It took only the few opening bars for identification.

"Hn, tango." His arm became a steel band around her waist.

"_What!_" The girl's eyes flew wide. "You're not - Hiei, don't tell me we're going to dance this!"

The red flew to her own concealing blue. "You know how to do it?"

"Well, yes...but I'm not that good at it, I've only done it a bit out of fun, and really it's so _sensual_, I don't really think this is a good _idea-_ !" Her voice flew up a bit as he whipped her to the right suddenly, and into a dip.

Looking at the set line of his mouth, Botan could tell that Hiei was hideously not amused by this whole ordeal. But he would go through with it. Because it meant a lot less trouble on a night where he needed none. His eyes glared, floating up from their position near her neck as he held her tight to prevent falling. "Onna, you got us into this mess. So you're damn sure going to follow through!"

And then she was up, spinning out, and holding still, her body automatically assuming the required pose, summoned from her memory from those nights out with Kurama just in time. This was her least favorite dance, she didn't know it as well - but his eyes were promising extreme suffering if she didn't at least attempt to avert some of this attention she had so unwillingly caused. If they refused now, Nakano would never stop pestering them, and that would make the upcoming theft very difficult. With the thought, her backbone snapped into place, making her head lift. She would _not_ fail, especially after coming this far, failure was not an option!

The briefest sign of satisfaction at her unspoken agreement in his face, and then the music ended is traditional introduction and picked up the pace.

Footwork took off at an impressive rate. Where he had picked this up, she'd never know, but it was an effort to keep up with the speed. Every thought was directed towards putting her shoes down in the right place at the right time. One, two, three, hook around the right leg, step in, out, in between, back- the dramatic twirl gave her only the shortest respite before she was spinning in towards him again. Why did they give the women the more complicated moves! Her mind was desperately throwing movements at her and she just managed to grip them in time.

Concentration was a must for Hiei as well, moving to keep their dance smooth. His eyes glanced at her face every time it came into view, noting the burning flush found there, and the unseeing eyes as her focus was internal. Her chest was heaving at a rapid pace from exertion and still they moved faster. Turn, footwork here, pull her in, to the side, behind- another pause as she spun at his back, coming around to return to the starting position before it began again. It was luck that he caught the wobble in her steps.

"Relax." A command.

Botan's eyes blinked as she displayed a grimace trying to find her place again. "What?"

He rolled his eyes, tugging her in close for another pause, this time speaking to her shoulder. "I said relax, onna. If you fall on your ass, I'm laughing at you as well."

She tossed herself back to begin the footwork again. "I thought you were going to kill me?"

"Hn, I'll laugh first."

There was a long silence here before her mind belatedly caught the joke. It was silly, and probably not very funny, but a joke for him. Startled chuckles emerged. "Of course."

His smirk flashed back at her for the merest second. "Yes, of course. Now pay attention and stop worrying. You're messing up the flow."

She complied and they continued, easier, but before they knew it, the music was drawing to a close and Hiei was dipping her once more, hand pulling her knee up as he gave small pants into her neck. The final bars played as they held the position longer. "That's it, onna. Get up." Clapping and hoots were coming from around them as the guests displayed their enjoyment of the dance.

The blush was not distinguishable from the redness of the workout. "I can't, you've got my leg." Actually, it felt a bit nice like this, she was tired, and not having to support her own weight wasn't a bad thing. Never mind that his hand seemed unusually soft...

It slid away quickly as Hiei uprighted them, letting her loose to stand on her own.

Nakano was smiling at the suddenly out of place pair. "If you do that again, I might have to suggest that you get married."

This time, Hiei did growl, but it was drowned out by Nakano's wife rushing onto the scene. "Oh! Amelia-chan, that was absolutely lovely! You'll have to tell me where you learned to dance like that! I was never able to, even though I took lessons for over three years with this adorable Russian - oh, his muscles were to die for, I'm telling you- I only managed to keep on falling down." The giggle here was slightly lewd, as if she had been doing other things while down. "Come with me, you'll have to tell the girls as well!"

"Hiei?" Botan flashed an uncertain and nervous look back as her partner, eyes skittering between him and the two Nakanos.

"Forty minutes," he replied, eyes intense, before turning away from his host's mocking statements and off to find the refreshment bar again. Let Botan swim through that mire of sociability. He needed a break.

-

"Here, hold these." Hands caught the pumps easily as Botan quickly slid on a pair of socks over her stockings, coming from the bag she had dropped earlier out in the yard. After retrieving it from an open window, it wasn't difficult to begin her transformation.

The wig was wiped off next, replaced instead by a black hat over her pinned down hair. Jewelry clasps released as she packed everything into the bag, then looked up at Hiei, who was standing nearby and leaning against the door of the dark room.

Silence raged for a moment, before Botan voiced the obvious. "Could you turn around?"

"...why?"

"I'm about to change!" she snapped, holding out a pair of pants and a tight shirt. "See?"

The man shrugged. "I doubt you've got anything impressive. Stop making a fuss, onna, and hurry up. You've only got twenty minutes left to complete this."

Her mouth flew open to respond, face blooming colors, before she closed it with an audible snap, glaring. She turned around instead, not looking at him as she began to tug the straps down her shoulders. "Humpf! I didn't think you'd be so low to connive a strip show for free, Demon."

Red eyes glared down an empty hallway. "Shut up, baka onna." Like hell he wanted to see her anyway. The mind was kept furiously off her raging pulse when they had danced. "You know what you're doing?"

The shirt was pulled down over her head hurriedly as she began shimming out of the rest of her dress. "Yes. Crack systems, set the cameras into loop, then open the safes." Pants were tugged up over her stockings and socks and fastened. "That these people set up camera's in their bedrooms is disgusting."

"Hn. They're just paranoid. Nakano wants the highest security available, and his wife doesn't want the jewels out of her hearing range when asleep." He rolled his eyes at this one. "Makes her affairs very difficult to conduct in that room."

Botan sighed to herself. "She wasn't very interesting to talk to for forty minutes. Why couldn't you have dragged me away sooner?"

"I didn't feel like it," he grumbled back. Eyes watched as a servant scurried across the hall, running back to the kitchens for more supplies. "As it is, everyone thinks that we're doing stuff now. Fools."

"It'll all be over in an hour," Botan reminded him, putting her things in a corner, then resting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm ready, you?" She smiled as he threw a look in her direction. "Thanks for turning a bit."

Hiei let an eyebrow rise slowly before opening the door a bit wider. "Whatever. You weren't worth the attention anyway." Her sigh was ignored as he glanced both ways, then shut the door firmly.


	4. The Roar of the Approaching Night

AN: Actually, I had this for a while? Sorry, was on a vacation and I didn't take my laptop. Not that it would have helped much without wireless. Again, thank you for the reviews! I love that people like this and take interest. :)

Disclaimer: Standard

**Tender is the Night**

With the click of the door, Botan turned back into the room, moving to the open window and peering up. She bit her lip slightly. "Shesh, that's a long way up. No equipment either." The glance turned downwards. "And if I fall from a couple of stories up, I'll be lucky if I don't die."

"Backing out, onna?"

"I am not!" she protested quickly, drawing on a pair of gloves and levering up to stand on the windowsill, her arms holding on to the edges to keep her upright. "It'd be better if I had a map of this place though."

Hiei appeared next to her on the sill, sitting with his legs outside the room and holding on to her knee as she swayed slightly from the added presence. "What do you need now?"

"Um..." A hand went to her chin as she thought. Botan recited a short list. "Power route, layout of the bedroom would be nice, camera location, and oh, bedroom too, since I've got no clue what window that is."

"Second from the right, top floor."

Pink eyes, now contactless, counted the five floors in between them. "_Thanks_," she said dryly. She glanced back down as she felt something hit her palm. "What's this?"

"Two-way radio. Yusuke gave them to me, so if they don't work, blame that idiot." Hiei was staring hard out into the night, looking at the lake in the distance. "Goes in your ear."

Obligingly, she put it in, making sure it was clipped around the ear lobe securely. "And what else?"

The hand released her knee. "Now you get to work."

"_What_! You didn't tell me the rest!"

"I'll tell you on the way up." The tone was dismissive. "I suggest you hurry. Fifteen minutes isn't really that long, and we need to be back by then."

Grumbling, she swiped a foot at him, only to miss and cling to the sill before he reached out a hand and steadied her once more. Sighing with reluctance, Botan glanced up, then began her ascent.

It really wasn't that difficult, once she got the hang of it. Reach for another ledge here, then pull up. The ledges themselves where tiny, but if she clung, there was just enough room to be sure of her position before she reached for the next one. A thought ran through her mind. Hiei must have done this before to have been so assured that she could accomplish it herself. She wondered what a picture he would have made, hanging on to the side of the house and not knowing if he would fall or not.

Of course, the sinister part of her mind whispered, he could have just decided randomly to let her try it out first. A glance down had her head spinning, but also noticing his intense gaze as he watched her. The more critical part of her muttered. Jerk, she was probably his guinea pig.

"Why are you just standing there, onna?" The voice in her ear almost made her lose her balance before she remembered the radio. Trembling at the side of the house, she reached up and grabbed for the next ledge and ignored his question.

"How many more stories until I hit the top floor?"

The reply was short. "One. It's to your right now, three windows." The voice turned amused. "I hope you're good at jumping."

Annoyance came from her throat as she ended the climb up and looked over. Reaching out with one leg, she stretched as far as possible, then thanked whatever gods were listening as her foot hit the next ledge. No jumping for Hiei, that liar.

"What's the matter, afraid of heights?" His voice was drawling, she could almost feel the smirk.

Botan swore she would beat it out of him when she descended.

But for now, she had other things to worry about. Sweat drifted down from her brow as she stretched for the next ledge. "Camera locations?"

The mocking tone broke off as they got down to business. "One above the window, two to the left, close to the safe, one fixed on the door. The one on the window sweeps, you'll have to time it right."

"'Kay," she replied easily, adding a little hop to the next window ledge and becoming more confident. Her fingers paused on the edge of the pane. "Hang on, are these locked? Don't tell me I came up for nothing!"

Hiei rubbed his head, shaking it from the noise and rolling his eyes. "Baka, it's not, I wouldn't have suggested this route otherwise."

A long pause. "Why? How do you know this?" She was overwhelmingly suspicious. It takes one to know one, they always say. What if he was just trying to set her up to turn her in?

"Look to your right," he broke out, exasperated. "See that trellis? The lady uses it to sneak back into the house after finishing her business out in the gardens at night! Why would she lock her entrance in?"

"Oh." Botan's voice was soft, apologetic. "And so the camera...?"

"Right, why else would she have it on sweep?" There was an impatient sigh from below. "Get back to work, onna, ten minutes."

"Sure thing!" Botan replied, smiling as she hesitantly pushed the glass forward. It moved with no resistance. Looking up through the top of the window, she waited until it was turned fully away from her, towards the wall, before darting through, closing the window behind her and rolling away. It swept back, covering her escape for now.

Her attention turned to the two cameras fixed on the safe. She'd have to set them on loop. A hand reached into the shirt for a strap over her chest and pulled out what appeared to be a PDA. Small and just right. This really wasn't much for hacking, she wondered why Hiei had set it for her first job, but she supposed maybe she had to start out small to gain his trust for bigger jobs. Frowning she stared around the room.

"Power source?" The whisper had Hiei sharpening his gaze on the room. He couldn't see her now, she'd better know what she was doing.

A quick recollection of the last time he had visited. Mental reconstruction of the room put the most likely area for the control mechanism... "Hn, check the nightstand, or behind the bed."

"_You don't know!"_ she hissed back, sounding thoroughly ticked. Botan got no reply. Sighing once more and giving up on her purposefully vague partner, she crept towards the bed, rolling under it to avoid the gaze of the cameras. Her hand felt it's way up the wall, trying to avoid the bedsheets and cause movement to them. A soft sound of victory floated through the radio as her hand hit metal.

"Finished?" Hiei inquired from below, checking the clock. Eight minutes, she needed to hurry it up.

Botan was fiddling with the switchboard, trying very hard to get her small wire clamps to attach to the appropriate places without seeing the actual process. "A-almost," she winced out, turning her wrist to a painfully degree. Right...there! "Bingo!" Smiling once more, she rolled out from beneath the bed again and moved over to the safe. "Now lets see, traditional turn style, hm, shouldn't be too hard..."

"Seven minutes, onna." The voice was testy.

"Be quiet, Hiei," Botan responded automatically. "I'm working." Her head placed itself against the safe, and she began turning.

On the first floor, Hiei was tapping his arm with aggravation. Damn, the onna had taken too long in getting inside, there was no way she was going to finish in time! Well, not enough time to get her supplies and get down. Waiting a few more seconds, he finally stood up and looked to the ledge above him. There was no help for it.

In the room, Botan was concentrating, listening to the ticks of the combination. One click. Gosh, she couldn't remember when Kurama had set her on these. His softly smiling face as he shook his head over the follies of the rich. Two clicks. Hadn't he said that tradition was their most common downfall? Combination locks always did set the heart aflutter, for both the wealthy and the thieves. Three clicks. It was no wonder that he had trained it to be her best friend.

The girl turned the handle, drawing out the prize inside. A box, not a small one, what luck. Quickly and nimbly she retrieved it's contents, then set the empty box back inside, shutting the door.

A voice cut across her actions. "That's it, onna! You've got two minutes to get out of there! Don't make me come up there and get you!"

"Hiei!" She panicked, quickly stuffing the jewels down into the satchel across her chest and jumbling the contents there. "Hiei! I'm finished, just hang on!" A roll under the bed and the wires were freed immediately from endless practice. She rolled back out, took a gamble with only a brief look at the window camera, then dashed outside, shutting the panes behind her.

Balance was barely caught as she swayed for an interminable time. "Baka onna, be _careful!_" It was hissed out across her radio, as she trembled and tried to move from the ledge. "No jewels are worth your life, fool!"

She made it across the three horizontal ledges. "I'm fine," it was a shaking voice, but satisfied. "You just scared me, that was all. How much longer have I got?"

He cursed from below as she lowered for the next ledge. "A minute," he finally replied. "You'd better hurry, we've still got to get you dressed. We're going to be late."

"Hang on," Botan breathed out, foot searching for the next ledge. Only two more, then a swift change. She'd make it.

Her mind was playing tricks on her. When she thought she felt pressure beneath the toes, she released, only to realize nothing was really there at all. "Wha-! Whoa!" Plummeting through the air... would three stories still kill her? Thought turned dreary in an instant before startled hands wrapped around her waist and tugged her forward. "Oophf!"

They shuddered at the sudden weight but remained strong around her, suspending her from the ground below. Her breath heaved against the chest she was pulled tight against. "Baka, baka!" Hiei was growling into her hair, the arms pulling her in tighter nevertheless. "Idiot! This is why I work by myself! You're going to get us killed! Do you know how many people could have just heard your shouts?" A louder growl resounded against her, melding with her shivers of relief. His last words were soft, but pounded into her skull from their vibrations against her head. "Baka onna." Shoulders slumped with relief that he had been able to catch her. Did she know how much she had made his heart stop right there? She had almost died! Or gotten seriously injured, and there was no way he was going to be a part of that. More muttered cursing as he pulled back and hurriedly hauled her inside the window.

Limbs were shaking and the first steps she took were uncertain. "Sorry. I'm so sorry, Hiei." Pink eyes were filling with unshed tears. She had probably just ruined everything. No wonder he was so angry.

"Get dressed." The voice was brusque as he pulled the bad from the corner and tossed it in her direction. Wordlessly, she pulled out her clothes and began changing, as he once again turned his back. Minutes passed in near silence, only the soft rustle of fabrics. When it stilled, Hiei looked back, to find her already in the blue dress and facing away from him. "Are you dressed fully?"

She nodded quickly, wig bobbing up and down for a moment, and held the bag out behind her. Hiei took it and dropped it out the window before grabbing her arm and nearly sprinting back down the corridor.

They made it to the party, in fact, with a couple seconds to spare, Hiei's watch just a bit fast compared to their host's. But they weren't quite in time to save them the upraised eyebrows from their rumpled condition. Red eyes followed Nakano's grin and belatedly Hiei jerked up the strap on Botan's blue dress, the girl herself blushing furiously and averting her gaze. His arm was still around her almost protectively as he glared back at the man.

Nakano only smiled wider. "What's this, Hiei-san? Honestly, I think we'd better send for the priest right away. I didn't know you were so _enthusiastic_ about your date."

"Don't you even dare," he ground out in reply, hand clenching around Botan's shoulder. From behind her husband, Nakano's wife was sighing from the treatment 'Amelia-chan' was getting.

The large man chuckled briefly. "Doing it the other way then? Oh well, like mother like son, I suppose." He laughed boisterously to himself, but surprisingly few people joined him, actually taking the time to become annoyed with their host. That was uncompromisingly rude, they muttered amongst themselves, and if not a slight against Hiei-san, who couldn't necessarily deny it, then certainly against the lovely Yukina-chan, who loved her brother dearly.

Hiei himself never noticed their assistance, and it was only Botan's quick hand at his shirt that kept him from launching himself at the man. "Let go, onna." It was a threat without the threatening words, his tone instead promising consequences.

She refused to listen to them this time. "No, Hiei, _no!_ We've won. Don't give it away now! We've won here, just forget about it!" A low and rushed protest, but after a few moments glaring after the offended, he finally allowed himself to give in and be swayed by her words. Any attack now would present the opportunity for Nakano to be antagonistic later and perhaps suspect him first off when he found the jewelry missing.

Turning the woman loose, he picked up a cup on the table as the couple hosting the party turned to face the crowd once more. Nakano held aloft a glass himself, his arms encompassing the whole party. "Friends! I'm so glad you could be here to partake in our lovely celebration! Normally my wife and I enjoy returning to our lakeside home by ourselves each year, but this time we thought we'd include you as well! So, please, have a wonderful evening!" Cheers rang out as the toast was completed.

The short thief rolled his eyes, barely lifting the cup to his lips before handing it off to Botan to drink from. More like the fool just wanted to be assured that everyone knew he was around this season, so he _had_ to be invited to each party unless someone was intent on giving him a slight. Hiei's nose crinkled in disgust. What an idiot. He wanted, no, _needed_ to get out of here as soon as possible.

Botan choked slightly on the drink as a sudden tugging came on her arm. She set the glass down hurriedly as she turned to Hiei. "What? What's wrong?"

"We're leaving," came the short reply.

"But the bag-!"

She quieted as he looped his arm securely underneath hers then began moving to the stairs with quick steps. "On the way out." His head barely nodded for the host. "It's late, Bird-san has a plane tomorrow. We have to go."

Nakano's eyes let out the barest gleam, but he nodded in return. "Of course. It was a pleasure meeting you, Amelia-san. Do stop by with Hiei-san again." Obviously he thought Hiei was lying. Which he was, but it wasn't as if the shorter man cared by now.

The steps were almost flown up, and Botan barely retrieved her wrap from the man at the door before she was being tugged out of it, away and down another set of stairs. "Hiei, slow down, they'll be suspicious!"

"Only of stupid things," he shot back, annoyed. "They'll think we're eager to do something else." He ignored her red face and startled expression, sprinting away at the foot of the entrance, reappearing in moments with the bag they had dropped out the window. Footsteps crunched on the gravel as they moved forward, Hiei hailing a cab that was waiting in the drive. The instructions to the hotel were given quickly as he pulled Botan inside and snapped the door shut.

Needless to say, with the current temper he was in, the ride back was quiet.

–

When they reached the hotel, things just seemed to get worse, however. Hiei cursed roughly at the sight of the police lined up outside. He paid the taxi driver before pulling Botan, not towards the building, but down an alleyway to the side. "Kuso! What the hell are they doing here!"

Botan was peering out around the corner, watching them nervously. "How are we supposed to get in, Hiei? There's got to be at least twenty outside!" Her hands were wringing themselves into knots at the thought of trying to break in.

To her right, Hiei was calculating quickly. They didn't necessarily come because of the theft, it could have been any number of things. But best not be too foolhardy. He needed to get in there, they wouldn't question his status for the moment, but it would be best if the woman did not enter like this. "Onna." His voice came out of the dark. "Take off your wig."

"What?" She blinked, confused, but complied. "The pins as well?" At his nod, those came out too and ended up being thrown by him in a nearby waste basket.

At her confused face to his outstretched hand, he explained. "They might have your description from the party. Cover your dress with that wrap thing and lets go."

"And you?" she asked back, as he strode out of the alley way. Hiei just shrugged and she rolled her eyes. "_Now_ who's going to get us killed?"

Catching up quickly, they managed to stride through the police at the front with little problem, Hiei's attitude of "you're not worthy to even glance at me" perhaps forestalling the inevitable for the moment. But the front desk man caught him at the door, nervously switching his weight from foot to foot.

"Ah, Koorime-sama, I'm afraid that the police seem to think that this hotel is home to a criminal. Now," he hurried on quickly, "it's nothing for you to be worried about! And do rest assured that this hotel is always looking out for your best interest and if you would request it, we can even provide guards for your door. I'm sure this whole mess with the police will be cleared up as soon as possible and everything will be back to normal. In fact, the hotel is offering a complimentary drink at the house bar just for the trouble. And if there's anything else you would need, do not hesitate to let me know." He delivered the speech almost in one breath, obviously panicked that such a high paying customer as one of the members of the Koorime family would decide to switch to a different hotel. His smile was ingratiating as he tried to smooth everything over.

Hiei's eyes narrowed, barely paying attention to all of the bluster. "Looking for a criminal? What do they think he did?"

The poor man shook like a wind-tossed butterfly. "Oh, you know, petty crime. I think it's theft. The police never tell us anything important like that. But you can be assured that it isn't murder!" Boisterous laughter that was very mismatched in a man who was sweating bullets and had red patches across his skin.

"Hn." The shorter man's mouth twisted slightly in thought as he looked off to the elevators. Theft did not sound good at all. They might just have to change their reservations. Though how the police had discovered their location so soon...?

The front desk man's voice cut through suppositions. "And you miss? All in all, I'm sure this must be a terrifying experience for you!" Again, the overdone and outused laughter. The only one it seemed terrifying for was the man himself. "If you'd tell us your room number, it'd be no problem for us to get an escort for you right away. I've got some men waiting for just that purpose in the back, our guardsmen."

Botan fumbled on that one, uncertain what to say, but it became unnecessary as Hiei's harsh glare turned back and the doorman found himself backing up a pace and suddenly flushing.

"Unless, of course... ah, with you.. um, I see..." Finally sensing the danger he was in from just remaining there, the man bowed quickly. "Please excuse me, Koorime-sama, I meant no intrusion." And then he was flitting off again, that nervous bug, to observe the police milling and try to catch any more incoming guests.

The rolling eyes of Hiei were barely witnessed as he stalked off to the elevators with Botan following behind. Her eyes, when the door shut, were spitting fire. "_Must_ you do that! Now everyone we've met thinks we're sleeping together!"

"It's not my fault that you must look like a whore," Hiei drawled, reaching towards the button plate.

It was only by the miracle of reflection in the shiny apparatus that he was able to catch the incoming slap. "You evil fiend," she hissed back, trying to tug her hand away. "That was unforgivable."

He stared hard back up at her. "Look, onna," there was no apology in his voice, "I'm not giving off that inference, and if you're not either, then it must be their stupid reasoning," but perhaps it came with a compromise. Or at least agreement to hate others not each other. He ignored her huff of dissent and turned away face in favor of looking back to the elevator wall. "Now, what's your floor again?"

Sighing, she shook off the anger. Getting into fights with him was just a pointless process, he'd never let her win, it could only be stalemate. "Um, five? Let me check." He hit the button as she reached into the front of her dress and rummaged through the pouch secured there. Jewels hit her hands like a crystalline stream of money, but everything inside was that liquid fire. Botan frowned and rummaged some more, then looked up with growing horror, her face pale.

"Hiei."

He was standing there, staring idly at the floor numbers click at the top of the door, tapping his fingers against his arm. No response.

"Hiei," she tried again, sounding a little bit more pressured.

"What?"

Teeth raked across the lip before she dared continue. "I think I know how they figured out it was our hotel."

A pause as his head came slowly down, to stare at her. He was figuring it out. "Onna..."

Her eyes were pleading. "It's kind've both of our faults, as you scared me so badly on the job, but it seems... I seem... oh, Hiei, I think I dropped my key card in the room."

He looked at her for only a moment before the squeezed shut and his throat appeared to be fighting down curses. "You've probably just killed us." He couldn't believe this, how could one woman be so much trouble! Obviously the gods were trying to prove something here. Yes, never work with another person. He'd never broken the tradition before, so looked what happened when he did. Catastrophe!

"I- I can fix this though," she put in from the side, looking hesitant.

"How?" Hiei growled back, not really believing it at all. First thing was first, he needed to get out of this hotel.

Botan took a deep breath, composing herself, then began ticking things off on her fingers. "Well, I'd have to hack their systems, gain control of the mainframe lists, then erase the fact that I was ever here and change the code to get into the door."

Red eyes shot back across the elevator. "Who's computer are you planning to do this on?" The lift gave a ding as they reached the fifth floor and both automatically pressed themselves against the sides, hiding from view of the policemen down the hall. Hiei continued in a raging whisper. "Because last I checked, yours is still in your room!"

"I'll have to fix that first then, won't I?" She gave a half smile, heart speeding up a bit at the thought, but ignored his temper. The doors slid slowly shut again and an elegant finger hit the top floor.

A hand caught her wrist as it began to retreat. "Onna, this isn't a repeat of earlier tonight. This building's huge and they'll be able to see you from the ground." His message was stern. "You will not be scaling the walls. If you think-!"

"Do you want to go to jail?"

Silence stretched as he glared furiously at her. Finally, he dropped her hand, turning away with resignation. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll think of something," Botan replied with more confidence than she felt. "Always did want to play McGyver."

There was an uncertain pause. "What?" She held on to giggles at the thought. Hiei needed to watch more television. Muttering about baka onnas as the elevator continued, the older thief waited for the floor to hit the top number. They both became silent as the door chimed.

Then strode out to find even more police waiting.


	5. Tender are the Motions

AN: And the moment you've been waiting for, cousin of mine:) Well, not really, but it's something at least moving forward. (Stop pestering me about the lemon, shesh! It's coming, not yet. Hold your horses!) ;) Hope this tides you over.

Thanks again for reviews. :) Nice to know other people than crazy Ciara are enjoying this.

Disclaimer: Standard

**Tender is the Night**

In all actuality, the police barely gave them the once over before turning back to their coffees in hand. Obviously on break. One tried a brief, "Name, please?" before recoiling slightly as Hiei spit out his surname once more. Gods, he hated using that name. This whole ordeal needed to end soon.

However, it was working well enough for the fix they had gotten themselves into. Rounding the corner in record time, the two paused as they looked down the end of the hall. Botan was glancing at the doors.

"Well, where's your room?"

"Hn. Penthouse, where else?"

Pink eyes rolled. "Of course." They strolled down further, stopping outside the locked door while Hiei began flipping through his wallet for the appropriate card.

Back near the elevators, the police were having a different disagreement. One of them, it seemed, was feeling a bit guilty.

"We really shouldn't be hiding up here anyway, and it wouldn't hurt."

"I thought you were exhausted from the long shift? No way! Did you see the way he glared?"

"But he might have information. His name _is_ on the guest list Nakano gave us. I remember because it's not his sister. She came by the station last year helping out in the charity ball. Pretty little thing, bluish hair? Made you trip over your feet?"

"Oh, can it! I doubt _he'll_ appreciate the fact that we're barging in on him to talk about his sister."

"No, we're going to ask about police business, it's our duty."

"Fine. But _you're_ asking the questions, got that?"

"Whatever."

Botan watched the cards flip with growing nervousness. This whole waiting thing was getting to her, she absolutely _hated_ the anticipatory pause before she could set to action. And the fact that there were a few people down the hall that had the power to arrest _her_, Botan, officer of Interpol and recent assistant, no, driving force! - she had done most of the work herself - of the crime that they were now investigating... "Hurry!"

A frown was across the short man's features. "Be quiet, it's stuck." Indeed, the card was refusing to come out of the tight back pocket of his wallet. Hiei cursed. He knew he should've gotten a new one instead of using Yusuke's cheap rip offs.

The call from down the hall caused both to freeze. "Koorime-san?"

Both thieves looked at one another, wide eyed. Conversation erupted in hissed half sentences and not quite listened to thoughts.

"They know!" Botan was panicked, her fists clutching her dress and going white. "The door-! Inside!"

Hiei ran a hand through his hair, grabbing her arm. "They can't know! Not possible, no links!" He scanned desperately for tactics of aversion and fell on the only one at short notice that might work. She was spun around to land against the door. "Don't move!"

"We've got to get out of here!"

"Shut up!" Her shoulders were pulled down swiftly as he leaned in against her, pressing a knee beside her into the door to steady his balance. The last words he managed to get out were "Baka onna, don't move," and then the policemen were rounding the corner, one innocently swinging his arms while the other looked agitated.

And Hiei shifted to block their direct view and rest his face mere centimeters from hers, becoming the very image, at least from the right direction, of affectionate lovers.

Against the door, Botan swallowed, her vision suddenly dominated by startling red that stared at her eyes with evenness and an undescribable calm, as if waiting for the axe to fall behind them. But what distracted her from upcoming doom was the sudden hitch in his breathing, which she seemed to reciprocate, and the hand that now unexplainably rested on her back, holding her in this position. Exhalation mingled between them and heated their cheeks.

"Koorime-sa-! ...oh...um..."

Fascinated pinkish violet watched as something in the back of his eyes seemed to spark and ignite, along with the hand twitching along her back. She held his gaze a moment longer, before her own sunk, lowered, down to something else that was currently catching her attention.

"Idiot!" The other policeman was stage whispering to his partner. "I _told_ you this was a bad idea!"

Fingers fisted into the dress fabric at her back as soft lips hit his, fusing easily with the heat to become welded in place. It was all too easy to sink into the part he was supposed to be playing and let his eyes flutter shut as well, feeling her shift into a more comfortable embrace. As she leaned backwards more to support her weight, it was simple to follow her into it, to tighten that arm around her and move to take control of the kiss. Pressure increased as the kindling began to smoke, changing meeting of lips from that of flirtation into the preludes of passion. And it was the only thing natural to make that odd but definitely masculine sound of satisfaction that had little right to be out on public display when she all but melted into it as the moan came lowly.

"Maybe if I just tap him on the shoulder...?"

The question drifted off as the two on the door shifted, breaking for air, and Hiei's head falling slightly to begin exploring further with his mouth.

"Shesh! Let's just get out of here!" His fellow policeman hauled the still uncertain one off and back to the elevators.

Botan's mind had barely registered anything else that was going on around her, but she did manage to make out a few details. Hands took his chin and brought Hiei away from her now moist and shivering neck as she attempted to convey the message to him. A breathy "Key, open the door," was all she got out before she was pressing into him again, biting his ear slightly while kissing it as she felt his fingers fumble at her back as he brought the wallet out again and began tugging at the key. If this was where all the tension between them was going, hot tempered words turning into high heat chemistry, she wasn't sure she wanted to stop the fights at all. Rational thought that she should not be making out with this man was not really important right now if he - ah, leave the neck, wait! Don't leave the neck alone!- kissed this good.

Vaguely, fingers noted the feel of the key card free in his hands and the wallet was tucked back into his pocket as he pulled the woman in front tight against him. He didn't really want to pause to open the damn door, but thoughts came of something horizontal and probably softer inside, along with the fact that there could be no interruptions, unlike the one he had purposefully ignored out here in the hall, which he was certain he had another important reason to do so, but it kind've fell by the wayside to ending this kiss with her. Mumbled and most likely unintelligible words came out as he pulled to the side for a moment - gods, why did that leave the base of his chin open at a time like this! He could barely think! - to whip the card in and out of the slot and push the door open.

They fell through, not stabilized enough on their own to stand the change in balance, and stumbled apart, Botan turning slightly in the process. Broken gasps of air sounded through the dark apartment as each strove to catch their breath from the activities. Amazing, that it could take this much energy between them and they hadn't even moved a step.

Fresh air seemed to be the key element in clearing her brain, however. Botan felt the discorporate reality of their recent situation set in. Had she really just been doing that? With Hiei? It felt alarmingly good, in fact, better than she had expected from that first kiss back in his office, but then that really hadn't been much - and where the hell were her thoughts going! No, no, no! She was here to get a job with him! Business before pleasure, the sore part of her mind whispered but she managed to ignore its underlying tones that she would rather be kissing the thief silly than heisting something. In her dreams! ...okay, bad phrasing, Botan shook her head wildly. More like, never in his lifetime. That was better. Her first objective was to obtain work, and _from there_ she would move on to collect first hand evidence of his usually hard to trace capers and finally be able to turn him in to Interpol successfully. If she managed to pull this off, no doubt she'd be promoted! And she could use the extra money to send her parents on a vacation, maybe to the Carribean, she had to keep on thinking like that!

She calmed her breathing and, in the silence that she could suddenly hear, noticed the growing awkwardness between them. The words fell out automatically, not even thought out before voiced.

"Nice acting, Hiei." The wince took her immediately, but she couldn't stop. "I-I was really convinced." It ended in a whisper, regretting that she had ever made the move to speak at all.

At her statement, his shoulders tensed, and unlike Botan's steady shift back to herself, it came crashing down rather swiftly for Hiei. He recovered just as quickly, repairing the cracks to his mind almost immediately. He had been frozen after entering that door, unable to get past the fact that he, _he_, Hiei 'don't touch me' Jaganshi had just made out with a woman he had barely known for a week. And not just any woman, a bouncy woman, an inexplicably happy woman, a woman who seemed to defy all laws of what a thief should be like but still managed to pull off the occupation with a large amount of technique - not that she had shown too much tonight, but that was partly his fault for just shoving her in and seeing how much she could take - and grace when she put her mind to it, the image of her climbing the ledges easily flashing back to him. But her words had easily put an end to his rouge thoughts. Hiei clamped down immediately. This woman's nature was slightly deceiving, he had forgotten that it would probably be the job first for her, like it was for him, and then, maybe, other people. Of course she would only be acting to fool the police. She was _good_ at it too if it was only acting, but who cared at this point? The fact was that it should not have been more than acting to him, and so he determinately pushed the thoughts of kissing her again away, along with questions of who exactly had started that. Didn't matter, he didn't want to examine it.

"Hn." Her soft sigh in the shadows was ignored. "Whatever. They're gone, we need to get your things now, don't we?"

"Yes." An agreement to cover up her unseen blush in the dark. Hastily, she shut the door behind them, then flipped the switch, illuminating the room. It's layout was pretty standard to what she saw in Europe, and much better than the hotel rooms she had been living in for over a month. A large area, sitting lounge to the side, a mini bar on the table against the wall, backed by an ornate mirror, large king size bed in the back, separated from the main area by the illusion a couch provided, along with a subtle change in decor, and - Botan almost let out an audible sigh at this one - a personal bathroom just a few feet away. She barely stopped herself from dashing off to feel the hot water that would not be used up like that in the communal bathrooms. Barely. It was time to get down to business.

Hiei shook himself out and stalked forward into the room, tossing the bag over his shoulder onto a chair with disregard. His eyes were waiting for her to do something.

There was nothing left but to comply. "Right," Botan said, gathering her thoughts. It's all rather simple, we'll just have to get my things out of that room without any of the police knowing I was there."

An eyebrow of his shot up. "You call that simple, onna? This isn't the kind of job I like sprung on me!"

"Who said you were going to do anything?" she shot back, a little annoyed. Honestly, it wasn't as if he had done much to help the first heist this night either.

The return glare was poisoned. "I did. I'm not letting some kuso baka onna get killed over a bag of luggage! And if you get caught, I get caught as well! Don't forget that the police just saw us together out there in the hall!"

The room stilled as the tension returned. The hall, no, they didn't want to think about that. It was with slow recognition that each saw in the other's stillness a kind of mutual agreement. That incident would be forgotten, at least for now, along with all the rest of it. They had a job to do.

It was, not that they noticed much, one of their first agreements as professional partners.

Botan moved to the luggage, lifting it swiftly over to the couch. "Computer?"

"Laptop, second pocket. The cords are in the front pouch."

"Best not to use them," Botan replied simply. "We can't connect to their system directly, I don't want them tracing our power supply. I'll hook up us to a different router." The laptop was out in seconds, set down on the shorter coffee table and flipped open, power running quickly.

Beside her, Hiei was already emptying out the small carry bag of the simple clothes and instruments they had used last time. He laid them out on the table next to her, then began gathering other basics from his own things. The demand was made easily as he clicked open the back of his bags, a inlaid compartment lined with rubber. Inside was a strange foamy material. "Jewelry."

A hand left from clicking rapidly on the keys as Botan hurriedly unzipped the band that went around her chest underneath her dress. It was a bit of finagling to get it free, but she handed it over without complaint. Hiei took it without question and began methodically placing the pieces into the substance. They sunk in and remained firm in their places. He'd remove them later when he reached his own residence.

The voice was cooly questioning as he snapped the space closed again, letting the lines blend back into the black upholstery of the suitcase. "Since you wanted to do this by yourself, what were your ideas on the process, onna?"

"Um..." she paused as another password clicked into place, connecting her into a satellite network used, by those who knew how to get in, predominately by people with ties to Interpol. Hopefully, since it was a highly hushed thing, Hiei wouldn't know her sources. But for the freedom her company had given her for this job, she'd take the chances. His inquiry was registered as she began hacking into the hotel's basic systems. "Oh, well, I was going to get my things by climbing in the window. Not," she continued hurriedly, "from the top floor, but just one floor above it."

Hiei's return was dry. "And how do you intend to get into _that_ room?"

"Oh!" She turned a bright smile at him, almost grinning as she held out a hand. "That's the fun part! May I have your key card?"

"Why?"

"Do you have to question everything?" Botan huffed out, shaking her hand slightly. "Come on. I'm going to change the room it registers for. I've already got into their mainframe, will you please hurry? I should be undetectable, but quite honestly, the programs that you've got into this computer aren't as good as the ones I've got on mine."

Red eyes narrowed quickly. "How did you get into all that without my passwords? And who says the system I've set up isn't as good! I spent a damn lot on that thing!"

The girl sighed. "Didn't I say this was my specialty? It's one of the reasons you hired me. Your passwords I saw you typing in on the train ride over here, it wasn't hard to memorize the keystrokes, and trust me, whoever installed all this for you ripped you off." She gave an ironic giggle here. "Of course, since a few of them keep tabs on the black market and things you need for work, it's no wonder. You won't get that cheap." No mention was made on the mere speed she had used to deduce all this, and Hiei was left turning away sourly, tossing the card in her direction.

"Do what you want."

She fumbled the catch and had to make a dive to the floor to retrieve it. When she came up, there was the slight imprint of carpet on her cheek where she had bumped it, but a smile displayed. "Good! This makes it easier. I don't want to tap their security any further without my own computer."

"Hn." Hiei wasn't really paying attention as she made small noises to herself above the rapid typing, instead taking out another suitcase and beginning to rummage through his clothes. Idly, he spoke again, fingers sorting through pockets at a quick pace. "If you can change the code on this card, I don't understand why you just don't change the one on yours. That would be simpler."

Blue hair bobbled up and down as she nodded in agreement. "Yes, but I said I didn't want to hack any deeper. I've got the serial code for this card." She held it up in one hand, not noticing that he never turned away from his own task to glance. "I don't know the one on that, so I can't change it as easily." She frowned at the screen, then pulled up the index of the programming. "Goodness, the inventor of this must have been high when writing the script! Nothing's named normally." Soft mutters came as she scrolled through the available root commands. "No, no, no, oh please, who calls your guest hub 'kami'! Hmm... no, no, n-wait... we'll try this one."

Botan whistled to herself as she waited for the command to register, then grinned as it displayed the correct codes. "Fantastic!"

A zipper cut sounded behind her along with a voice. "You're loud when you work, you know that?"

"I get the job done though." She didn't glance up from the screen, picking out numbers happily to herself. Hitting the return key, she flipped and lifted the card once more. "See? Piece of cake!"

"Baka. Now we can't open this door. How are you going to get in?" The smallest smirk was displayed on his face.

She blinked as if it should be obvious. "You're going to open the door for me."

Contrary to what was predicted, there was no outright denial of this, no insults, and no temper tantrums. Just the simple eyebrow lifted with the smirk still in place. "Oh, really?"

"Y-yes." She swallowed and continued nervously. This different type of response was unsettling. "It's too dangerous for you to go down with me, they'll recognize you on security. I'll just pretend that I was, um, invited to stay the night here or something and as another guest I'm retrieving my things." Her cheeks were slightly red as she finished and she didn't dare look him in the eye, but silence was her only answer.

Finally, he just shrugged. "That sounds reasonable for you, surprisingly. Go ahead, onna, go retrieve your things."

Violet eyes flew back to his own in slight confusion, before she nodded quickly, not wanting him to change his mind and go back to being obstinate. Maybe Hiei was beginning to understand that she knew what she was doing? Perhaps he was seeing her as a valuable asset?

Or maybe he was just making her clean up her own mess. Unwillingly, she sounded slightly unsure for her next statement. "Do you think... Hiei, do you think the police have already searched the room?"

The short thief snorted. "You're asking this after you've already set everything else up?" He shook his head. "No, they probably don't have a search warrant yet, and I doubt they'll get one until tomorrow morning, if that. Right now they're just trying to find whoever is staying in the room."

She firmed at his assurance. Standing up, Botan brushed out the folds in her dress, tucked her hair back into place, and moved for the door. "I'll be quick," she assured. The securing rope he handed her, a short one, was accepted with a brief smile and tucked away. "Don't worry! I'll do my job." She opened the door to the hallway and was off before he had fully shut it behind her, striding to the elevators.

Hiei was left closing the door with a decisive snap and moving towards his small pile that he had made, shedding his coat in the process and snapping off any article that might get in his way. She'd do her job, and he'd do his.

The smile couldn't be suppressed as her makeshift key easily opened the door on the sixth floor. It was impossible to get a room that lined up straight with her own and that was unoccupied, but one askew wasn't too bad, and she was pretty sure she could make it. Shutting the door softly behind her, she turned back to the dark room and walked over to the window, pushing it open and gazing down.

The window frames themselves were pretty big, as if the hotel didn't want the room to feel as small as it actually was. Staring at the city life, she was glad it was late at night, less people around to see her. Looking down at her dress, she sighed, but it couldn't be helped. She'd forgotten to bring her extra set of clothes. The short rope was looped securely to the main pipe of the air conditioner beneath the window and then wrapped twice around her waist and once around her hand before she turned back to her goal.

Only to almost jump out of her skin as she found another person sitting there on the window, looking idly out at the city.

Red eyes turned back to her with slight accusation. "You could have told me which room you opened, onna. Blasted people next door thought I was some kind of bird scratching on their window."

"_You!_" Botan's mouth flew open. "What are you doing here! I thought I told you to stay in the room! Oh, crap, now I'll never get back in! They'll know it was us! We'll be found out, go to jail-!"

"Shut up, woman!" He ground out, face turning annoyed as he grabbed her and wrapped a hand over the noise. "Do you want everyone to hear us! I said there was no way in hell I was letting you scale this stupid building all by yourself!"

Her expression was slightly petulant under his hand, but she didn't try and retort. Grumbling to himself, the thief let up and released her, looking back down over the side. Botan's voice was still slightly put out. "How did you get down here?"

He glanced back at her, then tugged at the near invisible rope tied to him. It was connected via what appeared to be a custom made suspension unit. "Baka. I have my own things. You're not the only one who's good at breaking and entering."

"If you had that, why did you give me this pathetically short rope!" The one in her hand was held up with indignation.

"Because I knew I'd get here before you!"

It was her who finally turned away. Job, job, she had to remained focused, no matter the distractions. 'Give it up, Botan, with his temperament, he'll never let you win an argument,' she thought with exasperation. "Oh, who cares. What are we going to do now?"

Hiei rolled his eyes, then held out a hand. "Come on. I'm taking you down."

Taking his hand almost immediately, Botan levered herself with assistance to the ledge beside him, holding on and speaking softly in the night air, traffic noises helping to drown out most of her own. "I don't understand why you didn't let me scale this myself!"

"Experience," he replied swiftly, releasing her rope from it's place on the piping then restringing it around her before securely attaching it to his own unit. "And you're too large to fit into this." The smirk he flashed was mocking and thoroughly enjoying the round about insult.

She couldn't keep back the slightly disbelieving chuckles. "That's only because you're so small! A man with your reputation is not supposed to be this tiny!"

The ironic eyebrow rose. "I am short, not _small_, onna, you'd do well to remember that." The eyes flashed once with the smirk growing wider, dark humor surfacing, before his mind seemed to catch up with what he was saying and he closed up again, becoming all business. Eyes looked purposefully away as his expression turned cold. Had he just... dear gods, had he just _flirted_ with the woman? Thank goodness her face, which was staring down at the quite vertical wall with some apprehension now, didn't register the fact.

An arm wrapped around her swiftly before he was repelling down the face of the building, too quickly for her to do anything but gasp at their sudden motion and cling. She hadn't been expecting that. But when they reached the appropriate window, she was yanking up the pane without a moment's hesitation, hopping inside before hurriedly pulling him in as well and then checking for anybody who could have noticed them on the street.

Botan's sigh of relief was audible when she ascertained no one had. "Good." The smile was back in place as she moved towards the middle of the room. "Now, luggage, clear prints, we-"

"Wait." His hand caught her arm before she could pull too far away.

"What?" And then it didn't matter anymore, the rope binding them together released. He tossed it in her direction before moving to gather the bags. Botan snagged one away before he could get it to the window.

Looking back to her unzipping it on the bed, Hiei began tapping his foot. "Look, you can't do this here, wait 'til we get back to the room!"

"Hold on." She muttered it, not paying attention. A small case came out, and from that a canister of some sort. Picking out a few more items, Botan turned away, blue hair twisting behind her. "I changed over here..."

It was with slightly impressed and yet narrowed eyes that Hiei watched her begin some sort of sanitizing method. If anything, she was thorough, never letting the chance of identification be left behind. Finger prints on dressers were erased swiftly, any disturbances corrected with carefully gloved hands, the doorhandles wiped, and, with that little spray bottle, any overtly human DNA, like that found in hair strands, shuffled off into a bag she carried. The question spilled forth, level from the side. "Where did you learn this, onna?" And where did she get those supplies?

Botan started sharply, glancing back with an almost guilty look before smiling brightly. "Oh, this? Well, my last partner was really a neat freak, pain in the butt sometimes because of how much a perfectionist he was, you know the type, everything had to look like some ornate trick that the police could never figure out, made clean up very difficult and all and-"

"I wanted an answer, not an essay," Hiei grumbled back, cutting off her tirade and brushing it off as an idiosyncrasy.

Obligingly, the girl gave the appropriate "meep" of embarrassment and shut up, thanking her lucky stars that at least he would ignore her easily if she began annoying him. She hated it most of the time, that facet of him that she had learned early, but times like these made it almost worth it. Putting her things away, she grabbed the case and moved with him back to the window. "How are we going to get these up? They'll definitely see us for sure!"

Hiei was already strapping the first to himself, not really paying much attention. "Baka. We're only taking them one floor up. You'll handle it from there." He finished and leaving in an instant.

"Oh!" The girl watched him go, blinking, before clapping her hands. "Oh, right! Of course, that is what we had decided, wasn't it?" Trying to stay calm, she watched as he carted her two bags up, then helped him tie her securely to his own device again. It was a brief moment clinging to him as he, hand over hand, moved up the rope again. "Is this how you always climb?" A breathless whisper as she vacillated between watching the unknowing street and his shoulder and arm muscles shift with what appeared to be only slight effort.

The thief grunted, suggesting that reality was otherwise, it was hard work. "Usually I go faster." A mutter to himself as he barely raised an eyebrow at her added weight before hefting them up the ledge and into the empty room she had already broken into.

Silence in the room was only broken by the slithers of the rope straps as Botan quickly freed herself again, shaking out her dress from its tucked position and smoothing her hair. The bags were grabbed as she headed towards the door. "I'll be there in five minutes, give or take a few."

As the latch clicked back into place, the window was already closed and her accomplice gone from sight.

Keys chattered to themselves incessantly, much like hens, back in the penthouse room. In a pair of boxers and a comfortable tank top, with her hair up and unseen in a towel, one of Interpol's finest showed off her qualifications. Not that they would really like what she was doing now, but still, a job was a job, and if it meant she had to pass this test, even if it had become much longer and more involved that she had expected, she would finish it. Her brain ticked away with the computer in front of her, bouncing off ideas with rapid fire pulse even as the electrical circuits worked.

There was no question. Her first job with Hiei was just not enough. Never mind the fact that the target was much smaller than his usual ones, there was just not enough evidence to use against him. If she brought this to court, the only one who would be indicted was her. _She_ was the one who had done most of the work, after all. The climbing, the break in, the theft. Even the covering of her butt when she slipped up. Practically nothing would point to her short partner in crime. Botan sighed as she toggled up her alternate screen, finishing a letter to Koenma. No help for it. She was in, but there was nothing yet. She had to stay longer.

Sending off the message, the girl winced. That was, _if _Hiei let her stay longer. She had no illusions that she had impressed him tonight. The job was shoddy. It was supposedly a very simple target, and she had almost gotten caught for it, over a very stupid mistake. If he let her stay after this one, she'd be very surprised. Lines hardened around her eyes, unnoticed except in the mirrors beside the bed on dressers. But she would do anything, absolutely _anything_ required to remain. Because going back to Interpol empty handed was not an option. Koenma hadn't been very vocal about it, perhaps he thought otherwise, but she knew, instinctually, she knew it. If she came back to them without Hiei on a silver platter, it was her head they'd take instead. She no longer had a clean record, they had trained her, they could break her.

Oh, she wouldn't go to jail. That would be highly unfair, cruel even. But they'd shuffle her down severely in ranks. The jobs no one wanted, that would be her prize. Perhaps they'd even terminate her as an employee. Reassign her to the mundane world, a bank teller or - no, they'd never let her work with money now, that record again. More likely a caretaker in a retirement community, they'd say she was a nice girl, misguided, and she'd be reintegrated into society. They would tell her she'd enjoy it more, less pressure, more relaxation time. But she'd hate it, she'd die. Her job was her life, every breath was excitement, adventure, and taking in that stale air would suffocate her.

This wasn't just an assignment, this was a test on her very way of life. If she failed, she'd be doomed to moldy existence, but if she managed to pull it off...! A shiver ran down her back. She couldn't even imagine it, automatic entry into one of the most respected circles in Interpol. That of members who knew the workings of the criminal mind well enough that they could capture and corral even infamous targets. She'd not only be promoted, she'd be in. She'd be an _authority_ on the subject. It was like earning tenure at a university. Difficult would not begin to describe the process it would take to discredit and get rid of her. Basically, if she won, she would be set for life.

And that, that was why she would do anything for this job.

The sound of water stopping in the bathroom had the window she had opened closing abruptly. The clicking of keys was again at that rapid pace as Hiei exited the bathroom, towel fluffing his hair into spiky tufts as he rubbed it down, and his body clad in a pair of pajama pants, ones with snowflakes on them and that had obviously come from his sister. A Christmas gift from a few years back. One of many she had enjoyed giving him, trying to make up for lost time, but also to return the favor of the seemingly endless trinkets he always had for her whenever he visited.

Red eyes gazed around the room, and narrowed as he tossed the towel over one shoulder. "What are you doing on the bed, onna?"

"It's more comfortable up here," she replied, barely glancing at him as she hit in another key sequence, pausing a moment for the next screen to flash up, then flying through more codes. "I'm almost done with the hard work, don't worry. I've already finished changing the code that will unlock my old room. The key card the police have won't work anymore, and when they check the computers again, it will be registered to another room. Right now I'm changing their check-in files to report that I called in late to cancel the hold on the room, as I had to cut short my stay in the area." She looked up to smile at him, expression revealing that she was enjoying this. "After that, I'll probably try to hack their security camera systems and see if I can't erase their hard copies of me in the hallways. You never know, sometimes people are stupid and try to save money by recording over their old tapes or not even saving the data into a physical copy anymore."

"Hn, why not just change the room you were assigned to?" Hiei walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, raising an eyebrow as he did so.

In contrast, Botan remained concentrated on the screen frowning a bit from the information it was displaying. "Directrix error, hmm..." Mouth twisting for a moment, she reached up and undid the towel bun at the top of her head and handed the damp cloth over, letting her wet hair twirl down her back to air dry. As a lady, she had managed to finangle first dibs on the shower, though in reality it was mostly because Hiei was too focused on setting any incriminating items away. "Um, I didn't because the police probably already have records on the occupants of the room. Don't worry, it's not my real name, they can't link it to me." The enter key was tapped a few times before another command went in. "We'll try a different focus, shall we?"

"But it could be linked to me," Hiei muttered, wrapping up the damp towel in his own and tossing it back towards the bathroom. It almost made it there, landing with a soft thump barely outside the door frame. The dark haired man was forced to sigh. Whatever. It was really only her dress that could be linked to him, she'd registered for the room under _another_ name, not Amelia Bird, so if she erased pictures of that, he should be fine as well. Chances were close to ziltch. He had to give her points for that one. The onna was absolutely marvelous at cleaning up her tracks.

Scooting back, leaned against the headboard. "Just move when you're finished."

"Hai." Her reply was distracted.

It took him only a glance to know that whatever she was doing was beyond his computer skills. Making a short face of resignment, Hiei let his thoughts drift off, a short frown of contemplation coming as he stared at the ceiling. In his head, thoughts tumbled over one another, contradictory, but fairly even. When he thought about it one way, the answer was obvious, but when he put a different spin on the situation, it changed and flowed into the opposite.

As he hit the same road block for the millionth time, his tired mind finally gave up on it. It was with a slow kind of realization that he noticed the noises beside him had stopped, replaced with a soft and steady breathing.

Asleep and innocently sprawled on the bed, the onna lay, one arm flung out towards him, the other still resting with fingers at the ready on her keyboard. The smirk was insuppressible as he watched little toasters wing themselves across her screensaver. Odd woman, that would be something she would choose.

Sighing, he lifted her hand away, and tapped the touchpad out of curiosity. When the password box flashed up immediately, Hiei didn't even bother to try. It was not worth the effort. Closing down the laptop, he pushed it off her lap, nudged the onna over to the far side of the bed, not bothering to cart her off to the couch, then flipped off the light. Let the darkness take the problems that he couldn't solve. For now, he would sleep on this.


	6. Somebody Turns the Corner Out of Sight

AN: Wow, um, yeah, so it's been like four and a half years since I updated this. There are probably a few of you getting emails going "wtf is this?" I had forgotten about this. I only remembered because I was in the mood to read something along this line and then I thought, 'wait, wasn't I writing something like this?' So, I'm very sorry to have left it for so long, but here is the next chapter and I will try to get the next one out on a much timelier basis because I am still very interested in it and not too bogged down with work at the moment.

Disclaimer: Standard

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**Tender is the Night**

-

He woke up with a start the next morning, with the sense that something was not quite right. The sun was peering through the gently swaying drapes, the room was perfectly silent, and he had just gotten the best night's sleep he had had in a long time. It wasn't that the bed was particularly soft, but the pillow he had lain next to was warm and pliant and had a rhythm that lulled him. And Hiei pinpointed his problem along with the legs that were neatly tangled with his and the waist he was casually embracing.

It had been a long time since he had slept with a woman in his bed.

He hissed slightly when said woman made an entirely too inviting noise as he carefully unwound himself from their position and rocketed out of that bed as if it were on fire. She was asking him to RSVP to things he didn't even want to contemplate when she had no clue what she was doing. And this was _another_ reason why he never worked with anyone! Hiei fought down the shiver and angrily grabbed the blanket that had been discarded off the floor.

But it swept down on her gently as he silently fanned it out across the bed. He must be crazy, he must be absolutely, hole in his head crazy for even contemplating her proposal, but he could not deny his decision. He never worked with others, would find it difficult to start now, and she wasn't exactly the best choice out there. She was often clumsy, a little too loud, and just all around too cheery for him to handle in the best of moods. And he wasn't stupid, he knew there was more to her than met the eye, there were things she wasn't telling. Heaven help him, but that was also why he wanted to keep her around, he couldn't deny it. She was fascinating, something foreign, understandable and yet not at the same time. She reminded him slightly of his sister, with her sheer naivety, and then she'd turn around and do something so clever that he wondered where exactly she had been hiding that brain of hers.

She lay in his bed, completely oblivious to the world and his needs, and that was a whole other level of whys and why nots. He was attracted, gods knew why, but that kiss last night had not been fake on his part, and neither had his reaction on the night he had interviewed her. He wasn't sure he liked where this had a chance of heading, he had a history of keeping business and pleasure separate, and the last time he had spent more than one evening with a woman had been a long time ago. This sexual tension between them, even if she was unaware of it - though how she could be would be his next question - was a strong strike against keeping her around. In fact, there were only two things that had quieted his objections to her presence.

There was something he wanted, something he itched to get and had for a very long time, and with her pulling strings for him in security systems, he might just be able to manage it.

And instinct, something he had learned to listen to and trust over the years crouched in other people's homes, was telling him to hang on to this girl. She might be dangerous, but there was some other, greater but unnameable danger lurking just beyond her. He had been feeling it for the past year, that the water was starting to get hot and that he needed to abandon ship before he went down with it. It had started to cool again only briefly before she came, but he could still feel it, like a ghost only steps behind him, waiting for him to douse the light before it descended. If he didn't take what he wanted now, he would probably never have another chance.

So she would stay and he would wonder at his sanity.

The knock at the door interrupted his pathway to the bathroom. With a muttered curse, Hiei moved to the entrance to his hotel room and opened it roughly, startling a pair of dark brown eyes.

"Wow, that was quick. Chose not to sleep in this morning?" Yusuke asked, letting his hand drop back to his side. "I came by like we planned..." he started, trailing off as something inside the room caught his attention.

The shorter thief turned to follow his gaze and found Botan sitting up where he had left her, with the sheet pooled around her waist and one hand in her hair, pushing it out of her eyes. She stretched, letting out a small moan, before turning bleary eyes towards the door. "Hiei?"

Yusuke let out a small whistle and barely caught the door before it slammed on his face. His grin was almost palpable even though he strained against the smaller man intent on locking him out. "So, I see why you wouldn't let me show her around town."

"Shut up and go the hell away," Hiei growled back, masking embarrassment with fury. That onna's timing was impeccably terrible.

"I'm not one to leave a free show," Yusuke replied, grunting as he held against the sudden weight his opponent shifted towards him. "And you're the one who told me to come at this ridiculous hour, so it's your own fault that I interrupted your oh so pleasant 'let's stare at her while she sleeps' fest."

The door was pulled open with a roar. "_What?!!_"

Yusuke stumbled in, catching himself on the door handle. "Finally," he said, rubbing his shoulder. He waved a cheerful hand in greeting to Botan, who was still sitting in bed, her eyes flying between the two of them. "Hey, nice to see you!"

She laughed weakly back, tugging the sheets tighter around her neck.

A fist yanked the mobster down to a pair of feral eyes. "Finish. Your. Business. And. Get. Out," Hiei enunciated clearly, glaring at the early morning intruder.

"Sure, sure," the young man agreed, casually brushing off Hiei's grip. His eyes glinted, flashing to Botan again. "I can understand if you're eager to get some alone time." Wisely, he dodged around to the sofa, avoiding Hiei's retaliatory punch. A folder was laid down on the table in front of him. "So, you'll be wanting passports now, huh? The things I do for you."

"Hn." The thief was not placated at all, but slouched on the couch nevertheless.

"Just the usual?" the taller man asked, glancing up carefully as he fingered the manila.

Red eyes stared back for a moment. "No. I'll be needing two."

"Right. I'll be needing a photo then," Yusuke said, flipping the cover as he pulled out two packets inside, both with carefully filled in information. One already had a tiny photograph papercliped to the packet with Hiei's soon to be identity.

The thief stared at the papers, then looked back at Yusuke ruefully. "You already knew."

Yusuke only shrugged, starting to grin again. "Hey, I've got eyes, can't say I blame you, and I put money on this. Kuwabara owes me two grand now." A few grudging chuckles were his answer, before the shorter man moved over to the counter and pulled a photo out of his wallet. He handed it over to his sometimes associate. Briskly, Yusuke clipped the second photo to the other packet. "Right. They'll be ready by this afternoon, I'll have someone drop them by your place in Tokyo." The folder closed and he leaned back. "Dinner's at seven. That's my price. She wants to see you, for some reason she thinks we're friends and it's nice, so tomorrow you'll be showing up for some grub."

"I can't bring my sister."

"S'okay," the gangster replied, standing up. "She'll get someone else to gush over, so as long as she's out of my hair for a couple of days, I'll forgive you."

The answer was dry. "Thanks."

"Where are we going?" Both men turned to the interrupting voice from the bed. Botan sat watching them, her expression calm. "I'm not that silly that I can't understand when people are talking about me," she said complacently. "Where are we going?"

Yusuke was the first to break and give her that devil may care smile. "You, lady, have just won yourself a free trip to China."

--

It was seven in the evening when the plane touch downed at the Shanghai airport. The trip had been quiet. For Botan, it stemmed from exhaustion. Not only had they jetted back to Tokyo that morning on bullet train, but she was given only two hours to grab her things and get to the airport. Her checkout had been so quickly done that she had not managed to save her deposit for the rest of the week. There went another couple hundred pounds that she would never see again. And she had to call Koenma quickly and inform him of her changing location. China, she had said. Immediately he had wanted to know where in China, which local division of Interpol would she be closest to, how much longer would it take her to get the information she needed so she could get back home. She couldn't answer any of his questions, and her ear still smarted from where he had informed her of how pleased he was with the situation as a whole. Five weeks. She only had five weeks before she was as much a fugitive as the man sitting beside her.

Green eyes this time glanced over at the man next to her as she fingered her brown wig, dyed to match the digital adjustments to her passport. Hiei had been unusually reserved on their flight. She supposed it could be exhaustion as well, since he had been the one in charge of their travel arrangements and, she assumed, returning the dress she had worn to his sister and making his goodbyes. But as far as she knew he hadn't slept during their trip, unlike her, and his eyes showed no sign of weariness. If anything, she would say that he was deep in thought.

She hoped that he wasn't reconsidering his decision to let her stay, but she thought it wisest for now just to keep her mouth shut on this concern in case it hadn't yet occurred to him.

It was dark by the time they were through customs and hailing a cab. The path they took had her head spinning before they finally pulled up outside a moderately posh hotel. Hiei hopped out of the car before she had time to ask him if this was their stop and she had barely collected their bags before he was back outside and handing her a card. He paid the cab driver before turning to her and taking his bags.

"You're here for the night, floor seven," he said, hefting one bag and slinging it over his shoulder. She quickly followed suit, skipping a bit to keep up with him as he moved to the entrance of the hotel.

"What do you mean, just tonight? I thought we were here for a few days. And where are you-?"

He merely ignored her until they reached the elevator, glancing shortly at the video camera inside before standing casually near the floor buttons. The doors slid shut and he cut her off. "Shut up for one minute, will you? You have one day to learn this city, study it. My 'friend,'" he said the word a tad distastefully, "is not so nice as he pulls off. We're not here just for dinner." Red eyes were cast over her until she felt a blush starting to rise. Tsking, rummaged through his bag and seconds later she felt something thick being pushed into her pants pocket. If she hadn't already been blushing, she surely would have lit up then. "And buy something suitable. The trip here should have used up your cut of the last job, but I refuse to associate with bums and my sister is not around to clothe you properly."

Then the elevator dinged and she stumbled out of the doors, head pounding and with a pocketful of cash, her two bags swiftly following.

"I'll be back for you tomorrow afternoon at four. Be dressed and ready for dinner." And then the doors closed again, and she was left by herself.

--

The lights lining the street were bright as Hiei stepped onto the street. He narrowed his eyes as he dodged passerby and scanned for the taxi he had asked to wait. It was pulled down several meters and parked by the curb and he quickly strode towards it once spotting it and snapped open the door.

Behind the wheel, the driver fluttered a newspaper before glancing back at him. "Ready?"

"Yes," Hiei answered in Japanese, watching the man nod in acknowledgment and put the car back into gear. They pulled slowly away from the curb and merged into traffic, steadily making their way from Jingan to Pudong. In the back seat, the thief watched the tourist crowds on the sidewalks staring up at the high rise corporate buildings that dominated the cities. With their minds on skyscrapers, they would be easy targets for pick pockets. Abruptly, Hiei shook himself and turned away. It had been a long time since he had needed to rely on a fat wallet for daily sustenance.

"The boss is expecting you," the driver announced in Japanese as they pulled up to a particularly tall building.

Red eyes shot to his in the rear view mirror. "I know," came the reply in Mandarin. "Why do you think I chose this cab?"

"Or did I choose you?" The driver laughed and Hiei got out smoothly, snagging his laptop and the small carry on he had brought. Yusuke should have the rest of the clothes he kept in China. If the man hadn't broken into his house by now, he wouldn't be the sort of friend Hiei kept. With a metallic click as the suitcase handle extended, Hiei made his way in through the sliding glass doors, nodded to the front desk clerk, who gave him a hard and swift once over before smiling, and stepped into the elevator.

The button for the forty seventh floor lit up like magic and he glanced over to see a young woman standing by the controls on the opposite side of the elevator. He long brown hair shifted as she turned to face him as well.

"So, is Yusuke entertaining visitors or should I be arranging for Kazuma's funeral?"

"Kuwabara, Shizuru," he greeted back, his expression gaining a small scowl but his mouth clamping down on any impolite snarls he wanted to add about her brother. Shizuru looked nothing like her brother, being almost attractive in Hiei's opinion, with her elegant face and tall grace, but she shared one important trait in common, one that slightly unnerved him: her uncanny sixth sense. In Kuwabara, it had helped him narrowly escape dangerous situations dozens of times, but in his sister, instead of being a defensive trait, it morphed into something offensive, that let her determine the best business choices to make, whether in the stock market or the black market. This business acumen had introduced her into Sakyo, a crime boss from Hokkaido and an enigmatic gambler, and there were rumors of their engagement for months before they were terminated with his death. She kept his old lighter as a memento on her desk, and sometimes Hiei wondered if it enhanced her own ability.

Besides his sister's obvious attachment to the oaf, Shizuru was one of the few things that made him hesitate in permanently ridding himself of the annoyance that was Kuwabara.

"Have you seen Keiko recently?" Shizuru asked, startling him out of his thoughts, though he managed to keep his expression fairly neutral.

Hiei gave a negative head shake. "I just arrived."

"Well, make sure to get a good look at her now."

And with that statement, the doors opened to the forty second floor and the young woman stepped calmly out, flipping an unlit cigarette up to her mouth as she walked past the small group that bowed as she passed.

Frowning, Hiei let the elevator resume it ascent without calling her back. Her mysterious comments could remain mysterious; he had no desire to prolong their conversation.

As it was only five more floors away, he reached his destination quickly and moved out into the waiting area, letting himself be quietly impressed once again just how much Yusuke had improved his standings since he had picked up shop and moved to China. The windows were tall and bright, with a magnificent view of the city sparkling with electric activity against the night sky, the small waiting area pristine, the magazines on the short coffee table deceptively friendly even though the young man playing secretary was decidedly not. Hiei gave a generalized glare in his direction in return. "It's Jaganshi. I should be on that schedule somewhere."

"Urameshi-san is currently in an interview with a client," the young man returned beligerantly.

Hiei matched his tone without even breaking a sweat. "I'll just wait here then."

Swiftly, the secretary's lips thinned into a tight line as he took in the casually bellicose stance of the visitor and the out of place sight of the suitcase. His voice came out rebelliously in short punctuations. "Urameshi-san usually has his special clients wait in another room. If you would follow me?"

'Ah,' thought Hiei, 'they're entertaining one of those people. Who come for money and not for violence.' Conceding with only a raised eyebrow, he followed the young man down a hallway and into another room, this one with a less attractive room but more comfortable chairs. The secretary quickly abandoned him to his own devices and Hiei was left to set his bags on one of the chairs and go stand by the window, staring out at the other skyscrapers nearly eclipsing his view of the bay. How far Yusuke had come. When he left Tokyo, it had been for political reasons, to slip past the tightening crackdowns of the government on gangs. Technically he was still centered in Japan, but Yusuke had lived out of the country for years now, only visiting his subordinates to provide support and head important events. In Shanghai he was acting as an international yakuza liason and doing better than ever. It was Kuwabara who had stayed behind as acting head while Yusuke was away. Shizuru had been the one to go along instead, her skills extremely useful in the economically bustling city.

"Hey." The comment drew Hiei's attention away from the view.

"You'd better tell your secretary to stop announcing this room as the destination for your 'special' clients or people will start thinking you fill it with hookers on a regular basis."

Yusuke's expression was wry. "Wow, could you try that greeting again? I could have sworn the proper response was 'Hey, Yusuke, what's up?' not 'I hear you hire hookers nightly'."

"...Hn."

"Well, I'll give you credit for considering it," the yakuza boss sighed as he sat down. "And you know damn well that Keiko would have me cremated before any of those women got through the door." He plopped down onto a nearby couch, leaning back into the comfy leather and propping his feet up on the glass coffee table. "So, you're earlier than I expected. I thought you wouldn't be showing up until tomorrow."

Hiei returned to the seat with his things and shuffled them to the floor before sitting down on the chair. "I thought I'd impose on you before you got the chance to spring the ridiculous part of your deal on me," he muttered, eyeing his friend's sudden smirk. Letting the subject rest with a short exhalation, he turned to another topic. "That baka's sister mentioned something odd in the elevator earlier. She said I should look at your wife."

Yusuke mocked shock. "Is that concern? Hiei! I'm honored!" He ignored the growl rumbling from across him with a grin. "No, Keiko's the same as always. She even slapped me this morning. I walked into the bathroom after getting home only to be screamed at that '_this is all your fault!_'" He mimed the last in a reedy falsetto. "I replied 'you're the one who started it' and BAM!" A finger pointed to his cheek. "You can still see the outline. I swear, that woman only gets stronger with time."

"I told you you'd regret marrying her," Hiei replied with a faint chuckle.

In return, Yusuke sniffed. "Ain't gonna happen. Anyway, you know a fiery temper like that only adds kink to the bed-"

"I do not want to know."

The grin was back full force. "Yeah, well, I guess your taste runs to quiet girls with big, purple eyes."

"She's not that quiet," Hiei grumbled quietly, "and I don't sleep with the people I work with."

"Bullshit. This morning-"

"-was a result of that onna's fumbling on a heist. She lost her room to cover her tracks and I didn't feel like supervising any other attempts to get her another." And, honestly, he had intended that she would sleep on the couch. She'd stayed on the bed only because by the time he had realized she had fallen asleep he was too tired to go through the hassle of waking her up and making her move. They had only legitimately slept in that bed, nothing else.

Yusuke was still looking skeptical. "And yet you're still working with her? After that 'fumbling?'"

The red eyes across from him slid over to the window again, gazing at the view. "She performed adequately in all other respects." The gaze riveted back to Yusuke, with an almost challenging glint.

But the mobster let the quarrel go. "Hmm. Well, she's your partner, not mine, so I'm in no position to judge. I thought she'd be with you, though."

"She'll be here for dinner tomorrow."

A raised eyebrow was Yusuke's response. "You let her go off on her own in a city this big? That's a little dangerous, don't you think?"

They were interrupted before Hiei could reply by a knock at the door. Yusuke glanced up and called a 'Come in!' then waited as the secretary approached him and whispered something in his ear. He glanced at his subordinate in surprise before turning back to Hiei with a small smirk.

"Your little 'bird' has flow the coop. Any clue where she might be?"

Hiei smirked almost viciously back. "No idea."

Yusuke just laughed.

--

Huffing as she pulled her luggage down the street, Botan glanced behind her and sighed with relief. Nobody there. It had been the right decision to cut through People's Square. It would have been more crowded during the day, but at night the shadows were easier to hide in, and she managed to lose the two dark figures who were following her.

Angrily she cursed as she drew out the note Hiei had given her again. It had been wadded up in the cash he had slipped into her pocket and was only two sentences long, but she felt a loathing for his high handedness all the same. The message flickered under a nearby streetlight as she turned down another cramped alleyway.

_'Use this to find another place to stay. Don't let them know.'_

The first time she had read it, standing in the hall as she searched for the key he should have passed to her - she could have sworn it was in her hands, just when had he filtched it? - in vain, the note seemed rather vague. But she had complied because she didn't really have a choice with no way to get into her current room and because the money he had given her could certainly afford a better room and she felt like viciously using up every cent of it after he had left her on her own. Anyway, he said he'd pick her up the next day. Let him struggle a bit to find her. Not too much, since she still needed this job in order to complete her real one, but just enough to make him sweat a bit. With that she'd marched down the service stairwell at the back of the hotel and slipped back onto the main street.

Halfway down Nanjing Road she realized she was being tailed. By unfriendly looking people. And things about that mysterious note began clicking into place. Alarmed, she moved faster, darting around people and tugging her luggage haphazardly behind her.

They had chased her for almost a mile before she managed to lose them. She still didn't feel quite safe and so stuck to the tiny back alleys as much as possible.

"Screw Hiei and his dangerous_ 'friends'_," she whispered to herself, peering around the corner before joining the throng moving through the shopping district again. She honestly didn't know which was worse: being arrested by the police or accosted by the mafia. Or yakuza or triad or whatever the hell they called themselves around here. At this moment she wished bitterly that she was back in England, back in London with her familiar streets and her clandestine mobsters and her god damn semi-automatic strapped to her thigh. Right about now, she'd even settle for the batons the average policeman carried.

But _no_, Koenma just had to take away anything that screamed 'law enforcement'. (And nothing quite screamed law enforcement like Interpol issued firearms. They just had the look of dark suits and impressive badges about them.) "Screw Koenma, too," she added for good measure, glancing back in residual paranoia as she darted around another corner and onto a smaller but still decently busy street. Ahead she could make out the bold English of the word 'Hotel' and she almost sprinted to its luxurious door, smiling with strain at the doorman and pushing her way through the roundabout doors to the lobby.

A bellboy was standing there to greet her and, with a steeling of her nerves, she let him take her bags and place them onto a rolling carousel.

"Does madam need to check in or has she already arranged a room?" he asked in accented but impeccable English.

"I, uh, need to check in," she replied eloquently, hoping that the rates were not ridiculously expensive. She didn't think Hiei had given her _that_ much.

With a small bow, Botan was led over to the reception desk, making her way around the small group gathered at the concierge asking about dining options. The girl behind the counter greeted her as brightly as the bellboy, and in just as syllablistically correct English. "Hello, how may I help you today?"

"Hello," Botan greeted in return, relaxing as her settings increased in familiarity. "I'd like to book a room for the night."

Fingers tapped on the keys of the computer in front of her as the girl pulled up the hotel room list. "I have several rooms free with king size beds, one free with a pair of doubles, and one suite available. What would madam prefer?"

Botan paused. "How much is the suite?"

"Three thousand yuan a night," the girl answered promptly. "Do you want to reserve the room?"

How much had Hiei given her again? Botan was having a hard time with the exchange rates. Three thousand sounded like a steal in yen, but this wasn't Japan. "Excuse me," she said quietly, turning around slightly to pull out the cash she had on her. She quickly counted through the notes, adding up the numbers in her head, then double checking twice as fast. With a smile, she turned back to the receptionist. "I'll take it."

And tomorrow, she'd still have three thousand left of Hiei's money to burn.


	7. Between a Life That We Expected

AN: Okay, guys, this is the chapter I'm cutting it into two versions. It's for only about a paragraph worth of material (and when you see it you just might call it a tease), but since I recently changed the rating on fanfiction to PG-13 instead of M, I figured I'd better play it safe rather than sorry. It was going to happen soon enough anyway. You can find the complete version two places: on adultfanfiction under the name Dark Sidhe, or on livejournal under the name darksidhechild. The livejournal version is linked on my profile and was created because, in the four some odd years since I had last been on aff, they started some kind of age verification page with birthdays and signatures and legalities, which I thought might be intimidating to some readers. You'll still have to verify that you're of age on livejournal, but at least it's only an easy click.

Disclaimer: Standard

-

**Tender is the Night**

-

It startled her from sleep, that hand that slid slowly up her thigh. Not only because she knew she had locked her door before going to bed and not only because she knew that she was on the sixtieth floor and the windows were permanently sealed shut, but because the fingers that skimmed over her knee and sunk into her inner thigh were just so bloody possessive, as if they knew, even if she didn't yet, that she belonged to them and every secret of her body was theirs to plunder.

Unwillingly, she moaned and arched back, even as she slipped her own hand down to stop the invader's progress. The tangled fingers halted midway above her knee.

The breath that hit her ear sent shivers down her back as she was rolled over to face the ceiling. "Onna, I think you need a lesson in focus."

Her eyes abruptly ripped open to find Hiei's crimson ones glinting in the faint light coming from behind her curtains that rippled with the rotation of the fan above her. A smirk touched his face even as her hands came up to rest on his shoulders, undecided yet as whether or not to push him away.

"W-what..." she paused, regrouped, licked her lips, and tried again. "What do you mean?"

His gaze remained glued to the place her tongue had just lingered, though he answered her clearly enough. "Hn. You made such a beginners mistake on the last job, you must not have been thinking straight. I need to make sure you have the ability to focus before you participate in any more."

Shakily, she inhaled, catching a whiff of whatever faint scent seemed to linger around him, of sweetly burning wood and the chill crispness of winter. She shuddered again as he sunk from his one supporting hand to his elbow, her arms giving against the force, and the smell enveloped her. "I don't understand. How is this-"

His mouth interrupted her, molding with alacrity to hers, snagging against her lips as he tilted his head, and then searing back firmly as he continued with a better angle. She moaned, she couldn't help it, letting her arms make their own decisions to wrap firmly around his neck. Slowly, he melted into her, the elbow sliding up to curl under her shoulder and pull her flush against his chest. She gasped at the feeling.

"Focus," he groaned roughly into her ear, and suddenly the hand that she had stopped on her leg swiftly and purposefully completed it's journey. Down her spine, lighting made a swift jolt of sudden ecstasy-!

Botan gasped awake and sat swiftly up in bed, staring blearily at the wall opposite her. The mirror there in return gave a haunted reflection of her, panting, sweaty, and alone. The sheets were twisted savagely across the king size feather mattress, and her clothes were plastered tight against her body.

Slowly, she flopped back to the bed as her heart rate decreased, half heartedly straightening the sheets as she did so. She hadn't had a fantasy that intense for years. And to have one about her partner in crime! Botan groaned, and not in that body wracking, pleasures fulfilled way. This was not good. This was _so_ not good. It was almost the epitome of bad except that, thank goodness, it wasn't the absolute worst it could have been, because he wasn't sharing the bed with her tonight.

She probably would have jumped his bones after waking up from a dream like that if they were.

Frustrated, Botan flipped and gave a morose scream into her pillows. Seriously, this hadn't happened for years, not since she'd be disillusioned by that rugby fellow back in her first year of college, so why did her 'natural instincts' or whatever they were called have to come back now? How was she ever going to look him straight in the eye now and not think of _this_?

Then again, she hadn't been as attracted to a man as she was to Hiei in years either.

With a sigh of resignment, she rolled back towards the window, watching the faint lights dance against the curtains. "Old girl," she muttered quietly, "you are in _so_ much trouble."

--

Hiei shaded his eyes against the glare reflecting off the myriad of windows as he strolled down Nanjing Road, pausing every once in a while to linger by shop windows and peer inside. With the top two buttons of his shirt loosely undone and a camera cellphone twirling in his fingers, he could pass for a tourist visiting the area. And he played the part up well, lingering to snap a picture of a street performer even as he leaned towards an old man begging at the cusp of an alleyway.

"Did you happen to see this woman last night?" The cellphone twisted a few degrees in his hand, displaying a digital photograph of a brown haired girl in a ponytail asleep in a plane seat. A bill was quickly passed into the small tray on the ground.

Slowly, the old man glanced down and assessed his new wealth, then pointed right, further down the street towards People's Square. Hiei nodded his thanks and walked off, letting his fingers slide the phone shut before they began twirling again. A small bump into a random stranger and a stop by the trash can had him prepared to pay off his next informant.

He would have preferred to have spent this morning relaxing and reconnecting with his sometimes associates in China, but he honestly was in no mood to play Yusuke's games. The yakuza had gotten himself into trouble again some how, he always was whenever he called Hiei in for a job since it was cheaper to use his own thieves rather than hire out for most of the petty stuff he dealt with. It was only when in dire need that he went to his old 'friend.' And when Yusuke got into trouble he usually had a bad habit of involving those people close to him. Botan would be seen arriving into Yusuke's care, there was no help for it, it was just the way things were done, but under no circumstances did Hiei want her staying associated with him until absolutely necessary. It was hard enough watching his own back, he didn't want to have to worry about her yet until he knew exactly what was going on.

Which is why he had instructed her to 'run away' the night before. Yusuke's protection was large, thuggish, and painfully obvious, she'd be a sitting duck. Their was no level of finesse or stealth about it. It was simply a better option to let her disappear into the city and find her again the next day using his roundabout methods.

Anyway, it wasn't as if he was actually paying for any of his leads. With such a large number of people looking up instead of around, the temptation was too great to resist. Several people would end the day with missing wallets as Hiei brushed up on his pickpocket skills.

He followed the trail past the large public square, lost it for a short while, then found it again as he made a lucky deduction and guessed that she would return to Nanjing eventually. It wasn't as if the onna knew much of the city, at least to his knowledge - she had been glued to that window in the taxi cab, after all – so he assumed that she wouldn't likely wander too far from landmarks she recognized.

When another beggar directed him down a side street and he spotted the large "Hotel" sign, Hiei took a bet that this was his destination and pushed his way through the revolving doors.

"Hello, sir, how may I help you?" a young man asked from the right, looking slightly uncomfortable in his uniform.

Hiei waved him off. "A question for reception," he replied shortly, stepping around the empty carousel pulled up next to the bellboy and moving towards the counter lining the left side of the lobby. An older gentleman looked up as he approached.

"Yes, sir, checking out?"

"No." Red eyes flicked to the surroundings, an imitation English drawing room style, and he noted the exclusive use of her native language before continuing. "I'm checking to see if you have a guest by the name of Botan Wakahisa." After entering a visual safehouse like this one, it was likely that she had booked the room under her given name and not a fake one. If he was wrong, he could always come back in an hour after making sure this really was the hotel she had stopped in and sneak into the office to get a look at their records or perhaps interview the housekeeping staff.

The receptionist drew himself up taller in his chair, attempting to appear more intimidating as he stared across the counter. "I'm sorry, sir, but we are not at liberty to give out information about our guests. I suggest you call your friend and get a room number before talking to the staff."

Hiei's eyes narrowed. The man wouldn't have phrased it like that if she wasn't staying here. He smiled tightly in return. "Of course. Could I leave a message for her? Just in case she's actually here?"

The man hesitated, as if trying to determine if this would give away the answer he was trying to conceal, but finally nodded his head in acquiescence, handing over a small pad of paper and a pen. Hiei quickly took the materials and jotted down a few words before handing it back.

"Thanks," he said, before turning around and walking back out. He continued down the side street and stopped at another beggar to double check his hunch that she really hadn't gone any further and to get rid of the last of his lifted cash. Then, feeling confident that he would have no problem getting in contact with his new partner this afternoon, he slipped through a few side alleys and back to Nanjing to take the metro.

Hopefully the onna was at this moment taking his other suggestion to get to know the city. He had been serious about that, especially since he didn't yet know any details of the job, and the more familiar she was with the setting the smoother it would go. But even if she wasn't he supposed at this point it really didn't matter too much. Right now he had time to head over to Zhongshan Park and perhaps catch a short nap propped up against one of the trees.

But if she showed up tonight without the proper outfit, well, we was taking his money back.

--

Strolling down the west end of Nanjing Road and munching on a sticky bun she had purchased a few street vendors back, Botan realized that not being able to speak Chinese while in Shanghai was not such a terrible impediment at all. Idly, she listened to the chatter around her as she licked a long line of honeyed juice off her arm and wrist. What she assumed must be Mandarin (though it could be any dialect variation and she wouldn't know the difference, honestly) melded with English which intermingled with Korean, shared a few sounds with Filipino, and slid smoothly into Japanese. There were touches of French, a language that Botan knew moderately well having spoken to her old teacher almost exclusively in it, a splash of Spanish, a yammering of German from a group of students across the street, and the rolling of Russian thunder from a larger man with a cellular phone. He was dressed rather incongruously to be doing business, in khaki shorts and a brightly colored polo, so Botan assumed it must be a call back home during vacation or something along those lines. And there were still more languages that she passed that she couldn't identify.

Thank goodness it seemed as if everyone knew at least a little English. She could always communicate with the people around her if she got lost or had a question.

With the last of her snack finished, Botan licked off her fingers and ran her hands along her jeans to remove the last of the residue, then set her shoulders as she got down to what she had come out to do in the first place: blow at least a good portion of her cash.

She had thought about sightseeing on Hiei's money, but without a good grasp of the transit around here and the feeling that she shouldn't wander too far hanging on her shoulders, Botan figured she'd settle for buying a knockout wardrobe. After all, that could be taken as following her erstwhile partner's instructions and not just revenging herself on his wallet. Letting her eyes lead her, she walked in and out of high class shops, examining the dresses and outfits on display and trying on a few when the mood struck her.

By the time she hit the smaller boutique that caught her eye next to that coffee shop, she had already amassed six bags. The straps pooled around her elbow as she pushed the door open and walked inside, and the young woman greeting people near the door kindly offered to hold them for her while she browsed. At least, Botan hoped it was a kindly suggestion and not one made because she looked liable to shoplift if she had convenient hiding places available to her. If, only a few months into the habit, she already gave off the 'vibe' that she was a thief then she didn't want to know what her colleagues at Interpol would think when she got back. '_If I get back_,' she added to herself with a sigh before pushing her lingering worry to the back of her mind once more.

Squaring her shoulders as she sized up the artfully arranged racks, Botan flexed her fingers before diving in once more, skillfully pushing through hangers and selecting outfits to try on as only a veteran shopper could do. She was focusing on purple today, she wanted something that would bring out her eyes, and her hands lingered over anything with a splash to a theme, shades ranging from lavender to royal and back again. She was hovering over a wide flared dress with Mulberry accents when she bumped by accident into the woman behind her.

"Oophf!"

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Instantly Botan flipped around, her arms coming up to steady the person she had tripped and her eyes flashing with concern. "I'm sorry," she repeated, "I shouldn't have stepped back so suddenly! Are you okay?"

The startled expression of the woman slowly melted into one of reassurance. Her large brown eyes crinkled up in a small smile as she replied in the Japanese that Botan had automatically rushed out. "No, I'm fine, you just surprised me, that's all. Don't worry about it." She hoisted the several outfits she held in her arms higher before continuing. "So, how far along are you? I'd swear you're not even showing yet!"

"...excuse me?" Botan asked, blinking blankly.

"Are you just shopping in preparation? For maternity clothes," she added, when Botan's expression did not clear up. "Because, let me tell you, you might want to wait until you actually fill out a little bit. I'm not wearing the weight at all where I expected, so I'm having to make a lot of adjustments in my wardrobe, but I guess these are the kind of things you learn when having your first." Her mouth twisted into a wry little line. "Not that my husband seems to mind much. Who cares about the expense when you've got a fuller, ah, figure to compensate?"

"M-maternity?" the taller woman managed to choke out. "Oh, no! Heavens no! I'm not pregnant at all!"

A delicate brunette eyebrow rose. "You're not? I think you're in the wrong store then. This boutique is dedicated entirely to clothing designed for expectant mothers." She smiled as Botan held up the three outfits she held with incredulous eyes. "You haven't noticed how they're much looser than most of the current fashions now?" She laughed as the thief set two of the hangers down and tented the last dress she had been admiring out with an amazed expression. "They're made ingeniously I think. Hide a multitude of sins. It's why I shop here. But you would have figured it out when you hit the racks in the back. There's no hiding nine months along, unfortunately. You just have to flaunt it then." A soft hand patted her new acquaintance on the back as the dress went morosely back to its starting point. "Did you not read the name of the store when you came in?"

"I can't read Chinese," Botan replied, then quickly corrected herself. "I mean, I guess at the meanings because I know the kanji, but I'm really not as good at it as I should be. Especially when the signs are written with odd characters."

A sympathetic smile was given back. "I understand. I'm a Japanese native myself. It takes some getting used to over here, but with a little practice you can pick it up in no time." Pausing, she glanced down at the items she held in her arms, then looked back up with determination. "Okay, how about this? I'm almost done here, so if you give me a minute to check out, I'll help you with your shopping!"

"Oh! I couldn't impose-!"

"You're not imposing," the young woman cut off firmly, shaking her head as she began to lead them to the register. "I rarely get a morning to myself - my husband's 'family' hovers like you would not believe! - and I'm not due back until this afternoon so I'm determined to enjoy it. If you don't mind, I'll have fun shopping with you and dressing you up. I feel like I haven't had some 'girl time' for months!"

As the clerk rang up the expecting mother's purchases and totally the amount on the register, Botan slowly smiled and nodded her head in acceptance. "Okay. Thanks. This will certainly save me some confusion while browsing the market," she added with a laugh. "Hopefully I won't repeat this mistake."

"Great!" her new friend said, paying for her things and taking the bag from the clerk. She swung back towards the other woman with a wide smile. "My name's Keiko, by the way. Nice to meet you!"

--

Keiko, it turned out, was a great asset while shopping the rest of the morning. Not only did she evaluate Botan's previous purchases - "Most of these are fine, but this skirt is two seasons out of style around here. Save this for when you're out of Shanghai." - but she also had a good eye for what was flattering on certain figures.

"You've got such a thin waist, it's great for kimonos! Do you have any?" the brunette asked as she watched Botan model a silky violet dress that flared just above her knees and extended to her high calves in elegant pleats. She shook her head as the young woman with her indicated a negative and did a twirl. "You really should invest in some if you go back to Japan. It's worth the money to get one or two really good ones. They'll last for years and always look good on you." Her head tilted. "I like the color, I'm not sure about the cut. These are a bit to retro. Let's try this new modish store that just opened a few blocks down!"

The name of her new friend had given her pause for a few moments – she was sure she had heard it somewhere before – but overall, Botan was having a great time. By the time noon rolled around, the two women were already on the way to becoming fast friends. As they sat down to lunch at a cheap but good cafe, she already knew a ton about Keiko's life. The young woman was twenty eight and had met her husband back in elementary school. They'd grown up in the same neighborhood and had been good friends for years, but hadn't really begun dating until high school. Keiko confided that she had promised herself that she wouldn't actually go on a date with the boy until he refrained from flipping her skirt for a whole month. What she didn't realize was that he got wind of this oath from one of her friends and so acted like a perfect gentleman for the entire time and then retaliated by ending their first date with a massive skirt flip in the middle of Shibuya station. It had been a rocky relationship for months afterward, and Botan had laughed herself silly at the recounting. But they'd gotten married when Keiko had finished college. Her parents had wanted her to help them with their ramen restaurant, but their daughter had followed her heart and gotten a degree in literature, though she did little with it now except go over the documents at her husband's business. She was currently four months pregnant, just enough so that it had started to become obvious in her body shape. She hadn't told anyone yet, but secretly she was praying for a girl. The next ultrasound would tell, but that was still a few weeks off.

Botan, in turn, was sharing details about her life that she hadn't recalled in years. She was currently twenty four, and had attended the private schools her parents had sent her to back in London for her primary and secondary education. She was single, but the first boy she had ever loved had been her cousin's best friend, a bumbling, pudgy boy by the name of George. He'd been St. George the dragon slayer and she the princess Botan he was in charge of rescuing in those make believe games they'd played as kids, but usually she was the one who ended up smacking dragon Koenma on the head and pulling George to safety. The infatuation had worn off quickly when she reached secondary school and discovered the joys of the boys cricket team, but she still held a soft spot for old George, even if he did have a blue tinge from the chemicals he worked with at his assembly plant. Despite her girlish tendency to swoon over most of the boys at bat, she was the tomboy of the little group her cousin commanded. As one of the most nimble, it fell to her to carry out the stunts of climbing trees rescuing cats and scouting the neighborhood, as well as jumping the fence and making off with the underwear hanging on the line of the mean old lady who lived in the cul-de-sac three blocks from school. She left for college at the age of seventeen, only months after her cousin had finally hit his growth spurt and shot up a foot and a half, and completed her degree in Engineering in three and a half years at the age of twenty one. After a failed relationship with the backup rugby player for the national team, she had remained single, but was content for now to focus mainly on work.

'_At least, I was until that dream_,' Botan added mentally, blushing into her cup as she took another sip of green tea. "I'm currently in town on business, technically," she added, setting the teacup back down and adding more vegetables to the top of her rice bowl. "My partner's supposed to get in contact with me this afternoon and we'll get down to work. But right now I'm taking a little vacation." Her mouth curved into kittenish conspiracy.

Keiko laughed aloud at the comment. "I can't even reprimand you, since I'm taking a break from my own 'family' right now as well." She pushed her bangs back absently behind her ear and took another bite of her meal. "What business do you do, by the way?" she asked after swallowing.

"Oh, er, we're in the acquisitions department," the thief lied, letting her gaze dart away for a moment as she slipped the falsehood out. "It's kind of an international job." She looked back up at Keiko, smiling in what she hoped was a deflecting manner. "And what about you? What does your husband do?"

The brunette's smile was also a little more strained than before. "Ha, well, I suppose we're kind of the same. It's definitely international, but we're more on the trade end of it." She tilted her head. "Perhaps we'll even work together. Wouldn't that be funny?"

God, she hoped not, not after she had grown to like Keiko so well. But Botan laughed lightly anyway with her new friend and finished the meal discussing places she should try to see in Shanghai as a tourist before she left town. They parted an hour later at West Nanjing Road station, Keiko scribbling down her telephone number in case Botan had time to meet up again and then impulsively hugging her before hopping on the train she was taking back home. Botan herself strolled back to the hotel in high spirits, her bags swinging merrily in her hands as she bounced along. It was a little before two and she had plenty of time to soak in the large tub she'd seen last night in her room before getting dressed and heading back down to the first hotel in hopes of finding Hiei by four. After thinking it through this morning when she woke up, she had come to the conclusion that he'd keep their meeting place the same as he had implied yesterday before he left. As it was the last thing he had mentioned to her about it, she didn't suppose he could do anything else.

She pushed through the revolving door cheerily as she entered the hotel, already anticipating the blissful indulgences of those jacuzzi nozzles she had seen the controls for on the side of the sunken tub, only to be stopped by the current receptionist quickly hurrying over to her.

"Miss Wakahisa?" the young girl inquired politely, sprinting the last few steps towards her.

"Yes?" Botan acknowledged, turning to face her interrupter. Her expression was mildly curious. Was there a problem with her room? Had she missed check out time already and was now responsible for another night's stay? She could have sworn the sign she'd perused last night had said that remaining until four thirty in the afternoon was acceptable – which had amazed her, but she supposed that paying extra for the suite gave her more privileges – but if she'd misread it she supposed she could draw from the bank account that Koenma had recently replenished for her for work expenses. It was, after all, her mistake.

The young girl bowed, holding out a small card. "There was a message for you, Miss, left earlier this afternoon."

Suddenly wary, remembering her pursuers from the night before, Botan put out a hesitant hand and took the note, unfolding it to reveal the short message.

'_Four, onna, Jing'an Temple. Don't be late._'

Her heartbeat slowed back to its normal rhythm even as her expression turned petulant. Hiei. Somehow he had tracked her here and still found a way to be controlling. Did he have to be so rude when she had been left on her own in a foreign city for almost a full day? She felt a small electrifying fear that he had led the people she'd lost last night right back to where she was, before the reassuring realization came that he'd been the one to alert her about running away last night and was therefore unlikely to seek her out without first making sure he was not being followed himself.

"...is everything alright, Miss?" the young receptionist asked, watching her face with faint concern.

Botan quickly smiled at her. "Oh, yes, everything's fine. My business partner just moved our meeting to a different location for this afternoon. It was a little surprising." She waited until the girl smiled back and returned to her desk before stalking over to the elevators and hitting the call button. There went her fantastic mood. Killed by Hiei.

But even as she thought critically about him behind his back, Botan also couldn't deny that she was looking forward to rejoining him in a few hours. Hiei could be an insufferable man at times, but he could also be a comforting presence. And without the distracting friendship of Keiko, she was finding that she needed the familiarity and assurance that he provided.

Plus, she also wouldn't be getting very far in her assignment without him, she thought wryly.

--

Jing'an Temple was beautiful, Botan marveled as she arrived. It was crowded, but the building was impressive, with its glittering golden tiered roofs and graceful pillars and walkways. Her eyes darting continually back to the architecture, Botan paid the small fee to get inside and stepped into the plaza.

Without taking a thought for Hiei, she began to explore her surroundings, passing beneath the lanterns and through the intricately carved doors into the main halls of the Buddhist temple. She walked though the open layout of the building, lingering for a few minutes at the large Buddha statue before continuing on, finally stopping on one of the side balconies to overlook the square and get an eagle eye view of the slim golden pagoda like structure that topped what appeared to be a jar. If she hadn't grown up in England, she might actually have known if it had a special meaning or was just decorative, but as it was she could still appreciate the fine art that went into it and admire the bells hanging from the rim of each roof.

"You're on time."

Quickly, Botan flipped to the voice that emerged from her right, a moderately surprised voice, and found Hiei there, his forearms resting against the railing of the balcony as he looked down at the crowds.

"Hiei." She drew in a large breath, ready to start on her rant that he had left her on her own without so much as a by your leave.

"You look nice." His comment sapped the fight right out of her. Helplessly, she looked down at the outfit she was wearing, an elegant dress that ended just below her knees, the thin strapped top a deep violet that ended in an empire waist and continued in white gauzy layers that spread into a classic bell when she spun. Keiko had said that while it didn't show off her waist to full capacity, it had a way of enhancing the delicate cream of her skin and so she had insisted she buy it. Hiei continued with a raised eyebrow. "I'm surprised, but I guess you can manage on your own on occasion."

"Thanks so much," she replied, a little sarcastically. But she was still lingering on his compliment, and so didn't have the heart to do more than that. Anyway, she was glad she had made the right decision on clothing, since she was uncertain if she should have dressed more business like for whatever meeting he was taking her to now. As it was, Hiei was dressed in a suit, his jacket tucked over one arm.

He glanced back as they reached the stairs, taking a good look at the delicate heels strapped around her ankles, and then held out an impatient hand, waiting until she took it before tugging her quickly down to the plaza. "Where's your luggage? You should change your shoes. We have a lot of walking to do tonight, I don't want you complaining about it later."

Her hand gripped his own tighter as they almost jumped down the last few steps. "In a locker at the metro station. Where are we going tonight, Hiei?"

"Hn." He didn't let go of her hand as he swiftly wove through the people visiting the temple at the last second and pulled them back onto the street towards the subway. "Pudong. It's east of here." Within minutes they were at the station, and he turned her loose. "Get your things, onna."

She led them to the small break in the wall near the police box and used the key she had dropped in her purse to remove the two bags she had left behind, quickly pulling on a pair of old tennis shoes and leaving the locker door hanging open as they left and caught the next subway train east. It was close to six as they pulled into Longyang Road station and Hiei called a cab. They arrived with about half an hour to spare at the tall skyscraper Hiei had stayed at the night before.

"This looks more like a business than a house," Botan commented as she thanked the driver as he retrieved her things from the trunk.

Hiei handed over a few bills before he turned and led the way in through the front doors. "It's both. They built apartments on the floor above."

"Doesn't that seem a little strange?"

A shrug was her answer as they stepped into the elevator, the button for floor forty eight lighting up. "It's quiet enough at night." The doors closed but they remained unmoving until their visit was validated by the occupants of their chosen floor. If they had had the pass code, they wouldn't have to wait. Red eyes speared into her. "Remove the wig."

"What?!" Botan's hand flew instantly to her head as she stared at him. "Why? I thought this was for safety! And my hairs all pinned down beneath it."

"So pull out the pins," he shot back, clearly uncaring. "We're off the street, it's not like anyone is going to care about that odd color."

"Clearly you do," she muttered in retaliation, pulling out a few of the larger pins before sliding the wig off her head. Oh well, she thought, it wasn't as if she liked wearing wigs anyway. It would have been more comfortable just to dye her hair, but it wouldn't be as easy to change back. The rest of the pins quickly followed and her hair spilled down her back in unruly ribbons as she stuffed the brunette disguise and her comfortable shoes back into the front pocket of her larger suitcase and slipped the fashionable high heels back on. "Now I look a mess," Botan complained, trying fruitlessly to straighten her hair in the mirror on the back wall as the elevator jumped into motion.

Hiei personally thought she looked deliciously good in what he assumed must pass as bedhead for her, but since there was no way he was admitting that out loud, let alone out of his subconscious mind, he wordlessly passed her the comb he had managed to slip out of her other bag and watched as she applied the fine teeth to her hair and pulled some strands back with a few of the pins she had recently removed to clip the powder blue strands out of her face.

"It'll have to do," she sighed, putting away the last remnants of her disguise as the bell for the elevator dinged. They stepped out into what appeared to be a foyer. Hiei quickly rang the buzzer by the door and led her inside as the man who opened it bowed them in. With a few words to their greeter, the suitcases were left by the door. His path led them unerringly into a traditionally Japanese styled room, with tatami mats lining the floor and paper screen doors occluding the portals.

From his position seated at a short table, Yusuke looked up from the cards he held in his hands. "You're early." The cards were eagerly strewn on the table. "Good thing, too. I was losing at hanafuda, and that wouldn't be good for my reputation."

"Hn," Hiei replied, removing his shoes and stepping forward into the room.

Which, Botan supposed, was what she should have done as well, except that her attention was currently stuck on the woman who was seated across the table from Yusuke, the stacked piles of points she had earned for this round in the game spread out before her. Brown eyes blinked back at her with open shock and confusion.

"Botan?"

"Keiko?!"


End file.
